Behind Enemy Lines
by Robert Anderson
Summary: This is a story of unexpected people coming together under stressful conditions.
1. Among Strange Company

**Behind Enemy Lines**

Chapter 1: Among Strange Company

Lieutenant Eric Peters slowly stirred to consciousness. Something didn't feel right he thought, the bed felt different than his bunk aboard the Event Horizon…The Event Horizon he thought his eyes snapping open!

Six Days Ago

As the battle for Eridanus II raged around them the crew of the UNSC prowler Nevada did their best to do what a prowler was built to do, stay hidden in the middle of a space battle. Captain Abdul stood on the bridge, cold as steel in a blizzard

"Port emergency thrusters!" he yelled.

There was a bang and the massive prowler lurched to starboard barely escaping an onrush of sapphire plasma.

"Sir, the Iwo Jima and the Trafalgar are bugging out," Lieutenant Henderson said from his station at communications, "We've been ordered to cut and run."

"Give it five more minutes, then jump to slipspace." The Captain ordered.

Ten decks below on the Event Horizon's missile deck Weapons Specialist Lieutenant Eric Peters was watching over the missile pods, waiting for an order to fire that would never come.. Eric was a short man with red hair and piercing green eyes, and these were his missiles.. The prowler had eighteen archer missile pods on this deck, and it was taking all of Eric's willpower not to send them flying into the Covenant fleet. But, he had his orders. It was a prowler's job to hide and watch, not get in the middle of a massive fleet action such as the one taking place all around them.

On the bridge Captain Abdul swore. "Prepare to jump, there's nothing left to see here, jump on my," Abdul was suddenly interrupted by Ensign Adams at navigation

"Sir one of the Covenant vessels is trying to make an out of system slipspace jump!"

"Engines to full power," the Captain yelled," Follow it into it's own slipspace field!"

The prowler increased speed and quickly caught up to the damaged Covenant ship.

"Slow to one third and match speed!" Captain Abdul commanded.

A slipspace bubble opened in front of both ships and they slid through. Everyone aboard thought it was a miracle the Covenant vessel hadn't spotted them at this range.

* * *

Eric Peters leaned against the bulkhead and slowly slid down the wall. He was beat. He was just coming off a twelve hour watch when the battle at Eridanus had brought everyone back to battle stations and that had been nearly twenty four hours ago.

Since Abdul didn't know where or when they were going to drop out of slipspace everyone had been ordered to remain on alert, which meant that there really wasn't anywhere the LT could go. The wide bulkhead door to his left was open and he could hear people walking up and down the hallway as they went about their duties. Eric could feel the subsonic thrum of the ship's fusion reactor through his boots, and the rhythmic sound was putting him to sleep. He was just about to lose the battle with his eyelids when Senior Chief Petty Officer Henrietta Dario walked over to him.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" She asked.

"Granted Chief." Eric mumbled.

"Sir you look like crap. You need some coffee." The Chief said handing Eric a cup of steaming coffee and helping him up off the floor.

"Thanks chief, how are we looking?" Eric asked when he was back on his feet.

"Everything here is shipshape LT. All the birds are stowed, we're running diagnostics on pods 2,4,13, and 7 but other then that everything is quiet and normal. Hopefully we'll drop out soon and finally get some action." Dario said enthusiastically.

"I hope you're wrong Chief I'd like a little time before we had to jump back into it." Eric said with a sigh.

Sadly it was not to be. On the bridge of the Event Horizon the navigation officer had been using the ships powerful detection gear to follow the Covenant ship via particles discarded by the alloy in its hull. The young officer had been detecting them on and off for the past thirty six hours, when suddenly the trail went cold.

"Sir, I lost her." The officer informed the captain.

"Drop out of the slipstream!" Abdul ordered.

The officer did as he was ordered and a moment later the ship returned to normal space. Before them was a planet that looked not unlike earth. It had sparkling blue oceans and vast green continents. The crew of the Event Horizon had no time to enjoy the view however.

A month ago the Event Horizon had been in dry dock getting an overhaul to her ablative stealth plating. Unfortunately one of the technicians had been in a hurry and failed to notice a minute crack in one of the plates. This crack was now leaking radiation which gave the Covenant ships around the planet a very nice target.

The crew never saw it coming, the sapphire plasma washed over the stern of the ship melting through titanium A battle plate and destroying the engines. Without engines the crew had no control of the ship and they began to plummet into the gravity well of the unknown planet.

A second ball of plasma hit the bow of the ship completely destroying the bridge and killing the entire command crew.

Another blob of plasma flattened against the hull around the missile deck and began to boil away the ablative plating. When the plasma had worked it's way through the plate it began to burn through the outer doors on the archer missile pods. If the superheated gas reached the missile warheads, they would all cook off with enough power to literally crack the ship in half.

Eric saw what was going to happen and immediately punched the alarm. All the crew members on the deck stampeded out of the room. Eric ran out just as the blast doors began to close. Seconds after this a loud BOOM reverberated through the ship.

The doomed vessel was beginning to enter the planet's atmosphere. The friction of the air on the hull was superheating the ship and tearing it apart piece by piece. Eric knew his only chance of survival was to make it to one of the ships lifeboats.

He thought he could pilot a lifeboat. He'd been cross trained on the flight systems a few years ago, but had never actually piloted one of the craft. The ship was falling rapidly and it was almost impossible for him maneuver through the hallways to the closest lifeboat he could think of. As he ran he could feel the ship coming apart around him, but all he thought of was reaching the lifeboat.

When he reached it there was no one else inside, but he sealed the airlock anyway and strapped himself into the pilot's seat.

Eric stopped for a second remembering what he had been taught about the small craft. The interface was very simple. He pushed the EJECT button and the craft lurched away from the dying ship. Eric grabbed the joystick with shaking hands and tried to hold the craft steady. Unfortunately in his hurry to escape the doomed ship he had forgotten to compensate for the immense g-forces caused by ejecting in atmosphere at these speeds. Eric slowly began to lose consciousness, and finally blacked out.

Fortunately the ship's automated response took over and slowed the craft a bit before it impacted into the ground.

Present

Remembering all this Eric squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, and glanced around the room. He was laying on a bed of some strange construction and the room, the room was purple. "Wait, purple, that meant the Covenant, had he been captured?" he quickly thought. He quickly glanced around the room and his eyes came to rest on the two Covenant Elites standing over him.

"Please do not be panicked." the elite on the left said in low growling voice.

"Don't be panicked?" Eric thought. His mind was in a whirl the crash, elites, what was going on, had he been captured? No the Covenant didn't take prisoners there was something else going on here. Eric tried to sit up and get off of the bed, bud the slightly shorter elite on the right pushed him back down.

"Do not move or you shall further damage your body." The elite said sternly.

"What's going on here?" Eric asked in almost a whisper.

"You are in no danger here, we are friends." the slightly shorter elite said in a soft voice."

"The elite on the left spoke once again "My name is Etae Inamoree and this is my mate Ineda.

"Why are you helping me?" Eric asked.

"My mate and I secretly do not believe what the Covenant thinks is right. We are a small part of an ever growing group of Sangheili who believe as we do, but we must keep our activities secret or we would be labeled has heretics and killed."

Ineda broke in " We saw the wreckage of your ship raining down upon the planet Etae and I hurried to the crash site in an attempt to save any humans before the military got there, unfortunately you were the only one we found."

"Human, Etae spoke, "you were not in good condition when we found you."

"I am a healer at the local war college, and I did what I could to treat your wounds. But, you do need to rest for a while longer to regain your strength." Ineda said.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Eric said rubbing his head, "None of this makes any sense, for the past twenty three years the Covenant has been hell bent on the complete destruction of the human race, why the hell are you helping me?"

"It is very simple," Etae began, "For the past several hundred orbital cycles the Covenant has come across many new species in this galaxy and all of them have been allowed admittance into our Holy Covenant, except for yours."

"Our religion teaches that all who walk the path shall find their way to salvation," Ineda continued, "The simple thought why not the humans? Led some in the Covenant to begin to take a closer look at what our prophets were telling us, and what we found was disturbing and saddening,"

"We were being lied to." Etae finished. "I have killed many humans to reach my position, and when your ship came down, it was like a gift of salvation from the gods, I had killed so many for no reason, now maybe I have the chance to save one."

"But if you prefer, we can still kill you." Ineda said innocently.

"Dearest, I must return before I am missed," Etae said suddenly turning and embracing his wife.

"Very well." Ineda replied.

With that Etae turned and walked out of the room.

Ineda suddenly turned to look at Eric. "You must be very hungry after being asleep for so long, I will return in a moment." She to exited the room and the door slid shut behind her.

Eric alone in the room now, took a moment to look around. The room he noticed was not purple, but made of a smooth off-white stone. The purple hue that fell upon everything was actually created by several small recessed lights. He looked around the room for some form of window, but saw none. Feeling suddenly light-headed and tired he laid back down upon the pillow which appeared to be made of some strange material that felt oddly soft and smooth. Everything was completely alien to Eric.

A minute later Ineda walked back in with a large tray made of the typical blue Covenant metal. Eric who was now starting to get a grasp on things took a closer look at her. She had the same brown skin all Sangheili had, but she was shorter by almost a head. Eric like all humans had never seen a civilian Sangheili before and he took a good look at what she was wearing. Ineda wore a white tunic which was wrapped with a brilliantly blue sash. She also wore a simple belt with a blue train flowing from it almost all the way down to her hooves which he noticed were bare. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she spoke.

"I do not know what humans eat, but what is edible to us should be edible to you. None the less I have brought several things to see if there is anything that particularly works for your species."

She walked over to the bed and set the large tray on a small table Eric hadn't noticed before. He tried to sit up and only now felt the sharp pain in his stomach that he knew came with several broken ribs.

"How badly was I hurt by the crash?" Eric asked barely suppressing a moan.

"Quite badly," Ineda replied, "I do not know the human terms for everything but I will try to explain your condition. You have several cracked bones in your chest which I could do nothing about. You also have a broken leg and a crack in your skull. Now for your skull I believe as with Sangheili only rest will mend the bone, but I was able to set the bones in your leg with a standard medical gravity field generator and then wrapped the leg. I believe it should be healed about six cycles."

"So," Eric thought, "A broken leg, some broken ribs, and a concussion. Huh, for such a violent crash he wasn't too bad off.

Ineda once again broke into his thoughts "I have brought you some different foods to try." She motioned to the large tray sitting on the small table. She reached over to it and picked up a small bowl of what appeared to be orange custard.

"Here try this but be careful, it may be a bit sweet." she cautioned.

Eric took the bowl, and Ineda offered him a small spoon-like utensil. He dipped the spoon in the bowl and lifted out a small amount of the orange goo.

"Well it doesn't look to bad." he thought sticking the spoon in his mouth. The food was so sweet he almost gagged on it, barely managing to swallow it.

"What was that?" he asked.

"It is a dish made from the Amai fruit, I warned you it was sweet." she said almost laughing. "Try this instead." She handed him a small bowl that appeared to be filled with brown applesauce.

Eric took the bowl eyeing it cautiously.

"Don't worry it's not as sweet as the last one." Ineda remarked.

Eric took the spoon and slowly scooped out a small amount of the brown mush. He stuck the spoon in his mouth and chewed.

"This one wasn't so bad," he thought, "almost like a combination of a lime and an apple." He took a much larger bite and chewed it enthusiastically.

"Don't eat too much I still have one more thing for you to try." Ineda said reaching over to the tray and picking up a bowl that appeared to be filled with over sized peanuts.

"These," she said, "Are Cili nuts they are considered quite a delicacy here on Sangheilios. This is because they are only grown on the holy world of High Charity." She offered the bowl to Eric, who carefully took it in his hands.

Eric slowly reached into the bowl and retrieved on of the precious nuts. He popped the small nut into his mouth and began to chew. Flavor exploded in his mouth! It was the most wonderful thing he had ever tasted.

"This is amazing!" he said as he grabbed for more nuts.

"Eat as many as you like," Ineda said, "I know where to find more."

"Do you have anything to drink?" Eric asked.

"Why of course." Ineda said handing him a glass of what he hoped was water.

Eric took a tentative sip of the liquid. It was the first thing he had tasted that he actually recognized, it was water and it was the best thing he had ever tasted. Eric suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side. He groaned and fell back to the pillow.

"Oh my." Ineda said with a start, "I will be right back." She turned and quickly strode out of the room.

The pain moved from his side down into his leg. The pain was so bad he almost passed out.

"why didn't I feel this before?" He moaned.

Ineda hurried into the room carrying a vile of amber liquid and a large device that looked somewhat like a hypodermic needle. She filled the needle with the liquid and walked over to the bed. She reached down and put her hand on his arm in an attempt to locate a vein in which to inject the medicine.

Eric had a sudden thought "This may be the first time an Elite has touched a human without hostile intentions." The thought almost made him smile through the pain.

"What are you injecting me with?" Eric asked shakily.

Ineda spoke with force and purpose "Your pain is growing worse, luckily I keep pain killer around the house. This is going to sting a bit."

"How powerful is it?" Eric asked nervously.

"I am giving you enough pain-killer to put down a lekgolo for an hour." She stuck the needle into his arm and pressed a button on the side. The device made a soft hissing noise and discharged the medicine into his blood stream.

"What's a lekgolo… He didn't even have time to finish the sentence as the powerful drug kicked in, and he fell into a deep sleep.


	2. The New Routine

Chapter 2: The New Routine

Eric Peters slowly stirred from sleep, he suddenly sat up and quickly looked around the room. He shook his head to clear the sleep from his mind.

'How many times had he woken up like this since arriving on this planet? He thought groggily He'd been here for three weeks, or as Ineda and Etae would say twenty one cycles.' He thought.

He swung his legs off the bed and tried to stand, almost forgetting that his right leg was broken. He was quickly reminded by the sharp stab of pain he felt when he attempted to stand on it. He carefully re-adjusted his weight onto his other leg and limped toward the door.

He had discovered early on that he somehow instinctively knew how to operate the holographic controls in the house. How he knew was a mystery to him, but he had really never stopped to think about it. He walked out into the hallway. The large square stones that made up the surface of the floor felt cool as he walked down the hallway. The house's walls were also made of stone that had been covered in a layer of plaster. The plaster had been infused with different hues of purples, violets, and pinks which swirled into random patterns that were oddly pleasing to look at, and at times Eric had found himself unable to pull his eyes away from the mesmerizing patterns.

On his right were three doors, the first led to Etae and Ineda's bedroom, the second led to a normal spare bedroom, and the third led to a spacious bathroom. The door behind him slid shut and blended into the wall. A holo projector silently came to life projecting a large mosaic over the area of the wall that was the door. This he knew was to keep the room a secret in case the military ever came to call.

On the left side of the hallway was a small gravity lift. When he had first seen it two weeks ago the thought 'What if the power went out?' had entered his mind. Using a grav lift had been an interesting experience from the beginning, and for some reason riding it had never gotten old. He stepped into the purple beam and tapped the holographic icon that represented down. The floor slowly started to rise in front of him as the grav lift lowered him to the floor below.

Eric reached the floor below and stepped off the grav lift. Directly in front of him was a circular entrance way which connected via a large arch to a sitting room, off to his right a hallway lead away from the grav lift. There was only one door on the right side of this hallway, and He didn't know what it led to. On the left however was another arch that opened up into the sitting room in the front of the house. This room had large windows facing out onto the street and several large comfortable chairs were scattered around the room. On one wall there was a holographic computer terminal that he had seen Ineda use to check on Covenant news. At the end of the hallway there was another arch that led into a spacious kitchen and dining area, and it was towards this that Eric headed.

When he walked into the kitchen Ineda was already there preparing something for breakfast.

"What are you making?" Eric asked as he sat down at the large brown table in the middle of the room.

"The same thing I usually make for breakfast." She replied.

Eric knew this meant a dish that looked and tasted something like cream of wheat that Ineda made almost every day for breakfast. Ineda walked over to the table and set a bowl down in front of him and then sat down herself. There was the sudden noise of a door closing and Eric instinctively turned to see what it was. He saw Etae appear in the hallway clad in white armor. He didn't know what white armor meant, but the helmet was so ornate he must have important position. A momentary lapse of common sense over took Eric, and being ever helpful he got up from the table and walked to the entrance way, and pulled the door open for Etae to walk through. What he didn't expect was for Etae to shove him as far behind the door as possible.. Wondering what was going on and a bit annoyed Eric moved back toward Etae, who in return casually shoved him back into a small closet that was standing open beside the door. The door swung shut and there Eric stood in the dark, when he suddenly heard voices.

"What was that?" a deep voice asked.

"That was just a restless Unggoy and you are to address a superior officer as "Excellency" in the future." Etae said with authority.

"Sorry Excellency it will not happen again, sir we have been sent to bring you to the temple with great expedience today." the deep voice said.

"Very well let us be off." He could hear Etae say.

Eric heard the door close and then all was quiet. A moment later he heard footsteps and the closet door swung open. There stood Ineda looking none too happy.

"You should not have gone near the door." She said.

"Who were they?" Eric asked.

"They were my husband's honor guard, his rank denotes that he must have an honor guard when he must be present at the temple." She replied.

"Sorry, that was stupid of me." Eric apologized.

With that she ushered him back into the kitchen and they finished their breakfast. Moments after this Ineda left for her work at the medical center. Eric was now alone in the house as he had been many times in the past few weeks. He wandered back to the grav lift and up to the second floor of the house. Eric walked down the hall toward the door that led to the bathroom.

Eric stepped into the spacious room and activated the holographic control panel for the bath. He wasn't sure if he could actually call it a bath, because of the fact that it was the size of a small pool. Steam filled the air and he tapped the controls again to stop the water. And took off the uniform he had been wearing every day since the crash. He looked at it wondering if he would ever again step onto the deck of a UNSC ship. He laid the uniform down and stepped into the tub where he sat for the next hour thinking about what had happened in the past few weeks. In the end he decided he would probably never make it back to earth, and somehow he would eventually need to leave this house.

Later that day Eric was sitting on a bench in the entry way thinking about what to do next, he was so deep in thought he didn't hear footsteps coming toward the house. Eric was ripped from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. Etae walked halfway into the room and looked around he spotted Eric sitting on the bench beside the door. Eric stood up to walk away and found himself being once again unceremoniously shoved into the closet. This time though the door did not close all the way and he was able to look through the crack. Etae walked inside completely followed closely by four Elites in white and orange armor carrying spears.

Etae turned to them and said "Please go into the sitting room while I locate the cards." The four orange and white clad Elites stood their spears by the door and walked into the sitting room. Etae on the other hand walked toward the kitchen. The four Honor Guard Elites all pulled comfortable chairs up to a table that was situated in the middle of the sitting room and waited patiently for Etae to return.

Etae returned a few minutes later carrying a stack of what appeared to be oval playing cards, five glasses, and a large spherical shaped bottle with a long neck.

'Aw crap' Eric thought realizing what was going on. By the looks of things he was going to be here awhile.

The five Sangheili began to play a card game that Eric could not even begin to follow. A one long hour later Ineda walked through the door looking tired from her day at work. She turned toward the sitting room, she looked surprised to see the other four Elites sitting there.

"Ineda may I speak with you in the kitchen for a moment." Etae said gesturing toward the hallway. He stood and she followed him out of the room.

Eric turned his attention back to the other Elites and was surprised to see the elite who was sitting to Etae's left reach over and look at Etae's cards. 'Some things don't change no matter what species you are.' he thought to himself.

Etae returned from the kitchen a moment later and the game resumed. The game continued for several hours, all the while Eric sat in the closet not daring to move should it cause noise. The game finally broke up long after the sun had set. Etae bid the four other Elites good night and they walked out the door. After a moment Etae strode over to the closet and opened the door. He reached down and grabbed Eric's hand pulling him up.

"I am sorry I had to be so rough, but no one can be allowed to see you." Etae said sounding tired.

"I understand." Eric said stretching his cramped muscles.

"I have an idea, please sit down and I will be back in a moment." Etae suddenly said motioning toward the table in the sitting room.

Eric walked over to the table and situated himself in one of the awkward Sangheili chairs.

Etae soon returned carrying another one of the spherical bottles. He set two glasses on the table and filled them with a clear liquid from the bottle.

"This," He said sitting down. "Is called Hasa, and it is very potent.

'In other words A-L-C-O-H-O-L.' Eric thought happily. He picked up the glass in front of him and took a drink. Being a Navy man Eric had drank his fair share of alcohol in his day and he knew this could only be one thing, grain alcohol. He knew he was right as he took his first drink and it burned all the way down.

"Wow," He coughed setting the glass down on the table, "That is potent."

"I told you." Said Etae taking a large drink from his glass.

It was not long before both human and Sangheili were both fairly drunk. In the middle of an interesting and pointless discussion about Unggoy Eric abruptly changed the subject.

"You know," He slurred, "Eventually I am going to have to leave this house. I can't just live inside this one place for the rest of my life."

"I do know this," Etae replied, "And it may just be the Hasa speaking but I may have an idea. I will talk to a friend of mine tomorrow, and I am going to need your boots."

Eric thought this a strange request but did what Etae asked and took off his boots and handed them over.

"And tomorrow I will also start teaching you how to be a Sangheili!" Etae almost shouted slamming his glass onto the table.

"I believe we are both drunk." Eric said sleepily.

"What is "drunk"?" Etae asked.

"It's what you are right now." Eric said trying to stand up.

With that they both slowly stood, wobbling a bit and stumbled over to the grav lift and up to their respective rooms.

* * *

The next morning as Eric walked toward the kitchen he overheard part of a conversation between Etae and Ineda.

"I am going to go see Anau today." Etae said.

"Are you really sure about this?" Ineda asked sounding a little worried.

"Well when you look at the situation I think it is the best course of action." Came the reply.

"If you are sure maybe I should go see L'ini about some things." Ineda murmured thoughtfully.

"maybe that would be a good idea." Etae said in reply.

At that moment Eric walked into the room and the conversation stopped. The morning went much like the day before, except Eric was sure to be well clear of the entrance way when the honor guard arrived. The morning passed quickly for some reason. Early in the afternoon Eric stepped over to the grav lift. He stepped into it intending just to go up to the second floor, as the lift moved him to the next floor he studied some of the holographic icons he hadn't used yet. On some impulse Eric decided to push one of them to see what would happen. He tapped a small yellow circle. Suddenly, the purple gravity beam died. Eric had a sickening feeling of weightlessness as he began to fall back to the floor below. Just before the first floor slipped from his view the beam reactivated, propelling him out of the lift and into the entry way. He hit the floor with a sickening thud.

When he awoke he saw the distinct shapes of two Sangheili standing over him.

"We must stop meeting this way." Etae laughed offering his hand to Eric.

"What happened to you?" Ineda asked quizzically.

"Umm, I slipped out of the gravity beam." Eric groaned slightly embarrassed.

As he stood up Eric noticed a large purple crate standing in the entry way.

"What's in the crate?" Eric asked curiously.

"Come over here and let me show you." Etae said motioning him toward the crate.

Etae pulled the lid from the crate, and Eric looked over the edge of the crate, and inside he saw the dark blue of Sangheili armor.

"Each piece of this armor has been customized and scaled down to fit a human." Etae told Eric.

"How did you do this?" Eric asked more than a little surprised.

"I didn't," Etae replied, "My friend Anau is a weapon designer for the Covenant, he did this for me."

"Ok, why did you do this?" Eric asked curiously.

"The reasoning behind this strange idea was quite simple," Etae explained, "We need to get you off this planet eventually, and to do that you will need to exit this dwelling."

"Makes sense, so where do I start?" Eric asked.

"First you put on this." Etae said Holding up a body suit made of hexagonal pieces.

Eric took the body suit and stepped onto the grav lift.

"Be careful on the lift." Ineda suddenly added as the lift pulled him up to the next floor.

An hour later all of the armor had been fitted onto Eric's body. It felt very odd with this armor on 'maybe this is what Spartans feel like' Eric thought. The boots were the oddest part of the armor. They had been designed for the hoof of an Elite, but thanks to the ingenious work of Anau, the inside of the boots had been molded to fit a human foot while still retaining it's outside look. Even the helmet had been slightly reworked on the inside to fit a smaller human head, without falling off. The gloves had also been modified to accommodate a five finger hand, which could also prove to be a problem in public. The one part that hadn't changed was the backpack, which still caused a pronounced hump in his back.

"Hold still." Etae said

Eric heard a hiss and a pop and a shimmering energy shield surrounded his entire body.

"Wow, this is cool." Eric said looking down at his hands.

"It gets much better." Etae told him with his jaws wide in what was undoubtedly a grin.

With that there was a ringing noise and Eric noticed his body disappearing.

"I specifically asked Anau to add an active camouflage generator to the armor. It may prove useful in the future." Etae said in an almost amused voice.

"The controls for these systems are found on the left arm guard." He continued, "This special operations camouflage system will allow you to move freely outside of this house without being seen.

'The UNSC would have a field day with this." Eric thought looking over the metallic armor with intense interest.

"And now we shall begin." Said Etae with great enthusiasm.


	3. Drastic Changes

Chapter 3: Drastic Changes

Six months had passed since Eric had first put this armor on. A lot had changed since that day. Etae had that day begun Eric's training in the Sangheili ways of war. The thought still made Eric smirk.

'This is the definition of irony a human being taught the ins and outs of Sangheili combat.' He had first thought.

Things had once again settled into a strange routine. Each day Etae and Ineda would leave and Eric would take the grav lift down into the spacious basement beneath their house. During the day Eric would spend hours working on his muscle strength and dexterity, and when Etae returned in the evening he and Eric would spar. And on some occasions would do weapons training. Up to this point Eric had been able to master the plasma pistol, the Plasma rifle, the carbine, the needler, and plasma grenades. Etae had even attempted to teach Eric to use the plasma sword, but after several long days Eric was still unable to ignite the weapon.

On this occasion Eric was practicing how to use the plasma rifle in hand to hand combat. when Etae suddenly arrived via the grav lift. He casually walked over to a rack of rifles and picked one up. He walked over to where Eric was practicing and took up a fighting stance in front of him.

"Let us see what you have learned today." The Sangheili said in a challenging voice.

Eric suddenly lunged forward closing his hand around Etae's wrist and swinging his leg around behind the Warrior in an attempt to knock his legs out from under him. Unfortunately Etae was ready for this; he lunged forward with his left hand, which collided with Eric's stomach sending him flying backwards onto the floor. The Sangheili moved forward with incredible speed for his size and placed a massive hoof on Eric's chest pinning him to the ground.

"Better," Etae said removing his hoof and helping Eric up, "But still not good enough to beat me."

"I'll get you eventually," Eric said slightly out of breath.

"You may not be able to beat me, but from what I have seen you could best many Sangheili warriors. There is little more that I can teach you, but there is one last thing we must try." said Etae in an almost proud voice.

"What's that?" Eric asked a little nervous.

"We must walk among other Sangheili." Etae said somberly.

"You mean leave the house?" Eric asked quite surprised.

"Yes, and there is no time that would be better than the present." Etae said boarding the grav lift.

Eric stood in the empty basement for moment thinking about what this meant, then adjusted his helmet and stepped into the lift. When he reached the first floor Etae was standing by the front door waiting for him. Eric walked over to the door and stood in front of him.

"Now engage your active camouflage and we shall embark on our small experiment." Etae told him.

"I remember," Eric said, "does Ineda know about this?"

"No she does not, and for the moment she does not need to know." Etae said opening the door.

Eric tapped a holographic control on the suit's left gauntlet and he shimmered for a moment and disappeared,

Both human and Sangheili stepped out into the cool evening air. Eric took his first breath of fresh air in over six months. He looked around being careful to keep his head down. The city was like no city he had ever seen before. Tall buildings made of varying colors of stone rose into the sky. The streets were paved with large white pieces of stone. There was no sidewalk along the road like you would find in an Earth city.

'This was probably because most Sangheili traveled by foot within the city.' Eric thought.

But, the most exciting thing that Eric noticed were the other Sangheili walking around him. He had never seen so many Sangheili in one place before. Some walked alone, others walked with wives and children. Etae and Eric walked on eventually coming to a stop at the edge of a large circular plaza. Four roads connected on the plaza with a fifth leading off toward a large temple that towered over the entire area. The plaza was surrounded by tall buildings with small alleys snaking around and between them, and in the center of the plaza was a massive black onyx statue of a Prophet. One part of the plaza filled Eric with a grief that he had never felt before, for the stone that made up the plaza was inlaid with large amounts of _black glass._

Eric looked up at Etae about to ask the question, but by the look on Etae's face he knew he didn't have to. Etae put a large hand on Eric's shoulder and slowly turned him back toward the house.

The journey back to the house felt long to Eric, and as soon as the door was closed behind him he sank to the floor unable to control his grief anymore. He pulled the helmet from his head and flung it across the room. It hit the opposite wall with a loud clang. Eric just sat there consumed by grief. A realization that had not crossed his mind in a long time crept back in.

'I'm just sitting here doing nothing while humanity is fighting a war and losing!' he thought. He wanted to do something, he couldn't just sit here! Etae brought him back to reality.

"You and I both know that right now there is nothing either of us can do to stop this war. Our priority right now is to keep you alive and out of the Covenant's hands." Etae said in an almost consoling voice.

"I'll be fine just give me a moment." Eric said wearily.

"I have an idea." Etae said, "I will be back shortly." With that he walked out of the room.

Eric just sat looking at the floor. He looked up a moment later when he heard Etae reenter the room.

"Come let us have a drink." Etae said holding up two glasses and a spherical jug.

"Sure, I could go for that." He said finally. Etae offered his hand and Eric took it. Etae easily helped Eric up off the floor and they walked into the sitting room.

Two hours later Ineda walked in the front door. She turned to look in the direction of the sitting room. Both Eric and Etae had fallen asleep in their chairs at the table. Ineda just shook her head and walked away.

Eric awoke the next morning to find Etae and Ineda had both already left. He also noticed that he was still sitting in the chair from the night before. He slowly stood, closing his eyes against a pounding headache.

'How much did I drink last night?' He asked himself. He stepped into the beam of the grav lift and instinctively hit the icon for "up". When he reached the second floor he made his way to the bathroom. Once inside he took a long look in the holographic mirror over the basin. He was a mess. Eric decided to get cleaned up so he removed the armor that he had been wearing the day before, and slipped into the tub.

An hour later he was back in the basement refreshed and already training again. After a few hours of training he decided to go back upstairs and think. He once again boarded the grav lift and was whisked away to the second floor. He entered the secret room and found his UNSC uniform folded neatly on the bed like it always was. He picked it up in his hands and sat down on the bed. He knew he was never going to see Earth again, but he also knew he wanted to find a way to fight. He sat mulling these thoughts over in his head for a long time.

He didn't even hear when the door opened and Ineda walked in. Eric turned in surprise when she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" She asked concerned.

"I'm fine," Eric said, "I was just thinking it may be time I got rid of this uniform."

"Why is that?" Ineda wondered.

"It's because I'll probably never see earth again, and the longer I keep this around the more I think about it." said Eric quietly.

"A warrior such as yourself should not be wallowing in self pity." Ineda chided putting her hands on her hips."

"A warrior?" Eric said, "Ineda, I was a weapon's specialist all I did was fire missiles from the deck of a ship, I'm no warrior."

"Not a warrior? Every soldier who sets foot on the deck plating of a ship is a warrior whether they know it or not, Etae has told me of your progress, you are a warrior whether you know it or not." Said Ineda.

"Thanks, I guess you're right." Eric said thinking her statement over in her head.

"But, I must say the timing is convenient," Ineda said leading up to something, "A few months ago I talked to a friend of mine named L'ini. She is a seamstress and I had her make you something." She pushed a bundle over to Eric. He picked the bundle up and looked at it. It was a set of clothes. There was a pair of sand colored pants, a tunic of the same color, and a brown sash. They were similar to what Eric had seen Etae wearing when not in armor, only much less ornate. Ineda excused herself from the room and Eric tried on the clothes. He looked at himself in a ceiling length holographic mirror.

This was it he thought looking at the folded uniform, there was no going back. He was really a different person now. Eric picked the Uniform up and placed it inside a cabinet that was recessed into the wall, and closed the door. He felt like one chapter in his life had just ended and another begun. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room with the door shutting itself behind him.

Etae Inamoree stood rigid as he stared out the front window of his home. He could clearly see the other beings moving about out on the street, but they could not see him, nor his worried expression. Etae had originally lived in a province from where he had gained his name Inamor, but he had been chosen by the elders there to represent them in the planetary council in Sangheilios's capital city. If events unfolded as he feared they would, it was likely that he would never again set foot in his ancestral home. But there was not much time to make a decision, the lives of himself, his mate, and his human guest all rested on the choices he made in the next few hours.

Ineda quietly walked up behind her husband. She came up behind him and wrapped both her arms around his chest, and leaned her slender head over his shoulder.

"What are we to do?" She whispered in his ear.

"A solution may have presented itself." Etae rumbled.

"Then why do you look so troubled?" She asked pulling back and spinning him around so that she could look into his eyes.

"The planetary council on Virtuous Sanctum has recently lost their moderator, and they have sent a message saying that they would be honored if I could see to finding my way to replacing him." Etae told her.

"So we would have to leave." Ineda said.

"Yes, dearest, we would have to leave our home." Etae confirmed.

Ineda considered this for a moment, "Then we should leave."

"Very well, I shall make the preparations." Etae told her,

Eric stepped off the grav lift into the entry way and instantly knew something was wrong. Ineda was talking to Etae, and she looked very worried. Etae on the other hand didn't look worried, no he seemed very apprehensive.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked cutting into their conversation.

"I have just learned that Covenant internal security is about to mount a large operation in an attempt to weed out all the Heretics on Sangheilios. We therefore need to get you off planet as soon as possible." Etae finished.

"Why do I need to get off the planet?" Eric asked confused.

"Because when the Covenant begins to hunt no one against the Covenant on this planet will be safe." Etae said grimly.

An excerpt from an old history textbook he had read in school regarding the ancient Salem witch trials suddenly popped into Eric's head.

"How would I get off the planet, and what about you two?" asked Eric growing more concerned by the second.

"I am currently pursuing a solution to that very problem." Etae explained.

Eric spent most of the next day in the basement taking his apprehension out on his invisible opponent while practicing hand to hand combat techniques with a Sangheili combat knife. He moved the weapon quickly through the air slashing and stabbing at his invisible enemy. Eric suddenly heard the door open upstairs and stopped what he was doing. He took the grav lift back upstairs to find Etae and Ineda once again standing in the entrance way.

'That's odd,' He thought they were home really early today.

"What's happened now?" Asked Eric.

"We have found a way to get off the planet." Etae said.

"A large medical facility on Sanctum is in desperate need of help, so I volunteered to transfer." Ineda said happily.

"Yes, and they have also graciously granted me a position on the council there. So we can leave without arousing suspicion now." Said Etae.

"So when do we leave and how am I going to leave?" Eric asked a little concerned.

"It is actually a very simple plan," Etae stated, "Ineda and myself will leave by ship, and so will you. The hard part will be getting you aboard the vessel. We cannot board the ship with you because it would arouse suspicion. So I have arranged for you to meet Anau and a small group of Heretics in the main plaza that we walked to the other night. From there they shall help you board the ship, oh, and we leave tomorrow."

"Ok than," Eric said enthusiastically, "We should pack then."

With that Ineda hurried off to the kitchen to begin packing, and Eric followed Etae to the basement where he helped pack up Etae's extensive collection of weapons.

The next morning Eric stood in front of the door in full armor. On his belt hung a plasma rifle, and there was a combat knife concealed in his armors left arm guard. Eric sighed and adjusted his helmet. Etae opened the door and Eric walked out.

"See you on board." Etae said as he closed the door.

Eric activated the camo generator and started walking toward the plaza making sure to keep his head low and his hands hidden. After about ten minutes of walking he reached the plaza. Eric stood at the point where the road entered the plaza and carefully looked around. There were a lot of civilian Sangheili just standing around, this made him nervous. What made him more nervous though were the eight Sangheili in full armor loitering around the opposite edge of the plaza. Too his right he noticed about six Kig-yar standing around squawking to each other. But, then Eric noticed something that really made him nervous. To his left on the other side of the plaza stood four Lekgolo. Something about that just didn't feel right to him, but he started walking again toward the left side of the plaza. He stopped and looked around once again. After a moment A tall Sangheili walked over to him.

"I am Anau and I have been sent to bring you away from this place." Said the Sangheili.

"How can you see me?" Eric asked

"I designed the armor you are wearing, I know the traits of it's active camouflage patterns." Anau explained.

"Makes sense, I'm ready to get off this rock, let's go." Eric said, but something was suddenly horribly wrong. Anau's eyes suddenly turned glassy. He fell forward hitting the ground with a thud. Standing right behind where Anau had been was a Sangheili in gold armor holding a energy sword.

Something clicked inside Eric's head he suddenly realized that this was the trap for the heretics that Etae had been talking about. Eric didn't hesitate; he punched the gold clad Warrior in the face with all his strength. His hand slid over an energy shield doing no damage, but causing the Sangheili to stagger backward for a moment confused about what had hit him, right up until the point when the camo generator sputtered and died.

"Aw crap." Eric explained, The Sangheili warrior seemed surprised to see a human standing in front of him and hesitated.

This moment was all Eric needed to bring his plasma rifle to bear and press the firing mechanism. A hail of sapphire plasma erupted from the weapon directly into the gold Sangheili's chest, draining his energy shield. After several seconds of sustained fire the shield overloaded. At that moment the plasma rifle overheated and Eric dropped it. Using training that Etae had drilled into him over the past six months Eric withdrew the combat knife from its hiding place and lunged at surprised warrior. Eric sank the knife into the articulation point around the Sangheili's neck. Just as quickly he removed the weapon and moved backwards as the warrior fell to the ground, dead.

The next moment Eric noticed that everyone in the plaza was carrying a weapon. Civilians that had not been carrying weapons before now held them, and the soldiers in the plaza brought theirs to bear on the civilians. Then Eric realized that the civilians must have been the small group of heretics sent to meet him. An instant later plasma began flying in every direction. The soldiers began to surround the plaza in an attempt to catch the heretics in a cross fire.

There was a sudden blinding flash as all four Lekgolo opened up with their fuel rod cannons, obliterating a small cluster of heretics. Plasma flew in every direction. Eric was reaching down to pick up his plasma rifle so that he could join the fight when he found himself being pulled into an alleyway. He turned to see who had pulled him away from the fight and saw three Sangheili dressed in blue armor.

"We must get you away from here." One of the Sangheili said. With that they began to run, and Eric ran with them through the twisting alleyways. After about five minutes of flat out running Eric felt himself slowing, when suddenly he felt something grab him and his feet left the ground. He looked up to see that one of the Sangheili had grabbed onto his armor's backpack and was pulling him along.

After another ten minutes of this they reached a small courtyard full of large purple crates. The next moment the Sangheili that had been pulling him along dropped him into one of the large crates.

"These crates are scanned for bio signs before entering the ship, to prevent stowaways." One of the warriors said, "So we must slow down your heart rate and breathing."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Eric asked getting a bit nervous.

"Ineda has given us something that she says will work." The Sangheili said withdrawing an object that looked not unlike a hypodermic needle.

"Oh lord, more drugs." Eric said thinking back to when his leg had still been broken and Ineda had given him copious amounts of painkiller. "What is it?"

"it is a high grade tranquilizer, and Ineda claims that it can put out a Lekgolo for an hour. Because of your size that should be enough to keep you out for the better part of a day." The Sangheili said jabbing the needle into Eric's arm without warning.

Eric was asleep almost instantly. The three warriors sealed the lid onto the crate and walked away.

An hour later an Unggoy came and moved the crate into the gravity beam of the cruiser Blinding Deliverance. The small alien watched the crate as it was lifted into the ship and then returned to his work.

* * *

Eric slowly began to wake. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep or what had awoken him. The first thing he felt was a low vibration that told him he was aboard a ship. The sound of metal scraping across metal suddenly reached his ears. The sound, he realized was what had woken him. He reached out in the dark and felt cool metal. At that moment everything came flooding back to him.

'I was drugged,' he thought to himself, 'and I'm in a crate aboard a Covenant ship, but what was that noise?'

A dim purple light appeared to his left. The light grew larger as the side of the crate was slowly removed. Eric's eyes quickly adjusted to the light and he noticed a tall female Sangheili crouching beside the crate.

"Ineda," Eric asked sleepily now recognizing the Sangheili, "How long have I been asleep?"

"You have been asleep for more than one and a half cycles, we left planetary orbit a few units ago." She told him in reply.

"I have a horrible headache." Eric said rubbing the side of his head.

"Your headache is a side effect of the tranquilizer. I could give you some painkiller if you want." Ineda said her jaws slightly agape in the Sangheili version of a smile.

"No that's alright." Eric said quickly sitting up a bit straighter. 'I do not need any more drugs right now' He thought. "How long is the trip going to last?"

"The trip will take roughly a cycle." Ineda said after thinking for a minute. "Since the journey will take so long, I have brought you a few items. "

"I have brought you a jug of water, and some cili nuts." she said holding up the items.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she started looking around for something, after a moment she pulled a small ball shaped object from her belt.

"I thought you could use some light inside that crate." she said pressing a holographic button. The small orb began to glow a soft sapphire blue. She handed it to Eric, who turned it over slowly in his hands.

"One more thing," Ineda said, "I must ask you to please stay inside the crate until the journey is over. We do not want to run the risk of you being discovered."

"I will." Eric said reluctantly. With that Ineda turned, looked around as if she was worried someone might be watching, and quickly hurried away.

* * *

Eric slowly walked through the small hallway making sure to stay near the wall. He knew he should have taken Ineda's advice and stayed inside the crate, and he had… for the first day or so, but then he had gotten restless and decided to investigate the area immediately surrounding the crate. He had discovered that there were only a few other crates in this particular hold. On further inspection of the room however Eric had discovered the entrance to a large network of maintenance access ways. In the past few hours Eric, using these access ways had been able to move about the ship unseen by anyone aboard.

At this point he came to a T junction. He pressed himself as flat against the wall as possible and peered around the corner. He saw no one, so he stepped into the connecting corridor. He followed this access way for about a hundred meters when he was met by a large silver ventilation grill. He quietly walked over to the grill and peered through. He was not prepared for what he saw. On the other side of the grill lay the ships vast bridge. Eric could see the raised platform in the center where a Sangheili in gold armor stood looking over a vast array of holographic controls, and at the far end of the room massive holographic images showing the outside of the ship. The screens on the left and right showed the port and starboard areas outside of the ship. Through these Eric could see that they were being escorted by two ships, cruisers by the look of them, and that they were currently leaving Sangheilios's orbit. Something odd was happening on the middle screen though.

It appeared that the space in front of the ship was starting to bend. White streaks of light began to collect around this area and Eric finally realized what he was seeing. It was a slipspace bubble. Something was exiting slipspace right in front of them! The first ship to exit slipspace was a UNSC Marathon cruiser. That was odd Eric thought. They were almost never seen by themselves they usually traveled with other ships as escorts. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when a massive ship exited the bubble.

Eric couldn't tell what it was, it was more massive than any super carrier Eric had ever seen, but it was close enough to the Covenant ship for him to read her name, Damascus. What were they doing out here all by themselves? Eric wondered. Upon spotting the Covenant ships the two UNSC vessels instantly began maneuvering for combat. The cruiser turned to face the three enemy vessels in an attempt to slow their attack giving the Damascus a chance to run. Eric could tell already that there was no way that two UNSC ships could take on three Covenant ships and win. The captain of the cruiser knew this too as he accelerated toward one of the Covenant cruisers. Eric watched the lateral lines on the Covenant vessel brighten as it prepared to fire. At that same moment the UNSC cruiser lurched backwards as it fired it's first MAC round. A second later the Covenant ship launched two sapphire teardrops of plasma at the cruiser. The three projectiles passed each other in space. The MAC round impacted harmlessly on the Covenant ships shields. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the UNSC cruiser. The two orbs of plasma washed over the ship's bow, boiling away the titanium-A battle plate. As the plasma ate through the ship it caused all of the ordinance aboard to detonate. The ship burned until it was nothing more than another debris field floating over another nameless planet.

Eric watched mesmerized as the three Covenant ships turned their attack on the fleeing super carrier. But, something wasn't right he noticed. The Covenant ships did not fire their plasma weapons at the massive vessel. No, instead he saw a swarm of small craft leaving both cruisers and heading for the Damascus.

'They had to be boarding craft,' Eric thought, 'why didn't the captain initiate the Cole protocol? The ship should have self-destructed.' The Damascus began to turn into the gravity well of the planet. Than Eric realized what the captain was trying to do, the captain was going to attempt to land the massive ship on the planet's surface. For the next hour Eric watched the screens waiting for something to happen. He knew that a battle was raging aboard the UNSC ship. He wondered who was winning. The thought had barely left his mind when he saw the telltale explosions of lifeboats jettisoning. At the same moment a dozen or so grey specks fell from the bottom of the super carrier and a cloud of olive green dots swarmed from the ships launch bays.

"Pelicans and drop pods?" Eric whispered to himself. A moment later Eric could see the Covenant boarding craft pulling away from the super carrier as it finally began to slip into the planet's atmosphere and break apart. He watched until the ship was engulfed in flames and disappeared. Eric saw two gold armored Sangheili give each other a congratulatory look. Eric turned back into the access way and headed back toward the cargo bay.

An hour later Eric was back inside the relative safety of crate. He sat there in the ambient glow of the small light Ineda had given him thinking about the battle he had just witnessed. He knew there were soldiers still alive on the planet, and there was nothing he could do about it. Then he heard the doors to the cargo bay slide open. He quickly turned off the small light and slid deeper into the crate.

Four minor Sangheili walked into the room grumbling about something or other. They looked through the different containers finally locating the two they were looking for. The four warriors lifted the two boxes and left the room.

Eric was just about to move into a more comfortable position when the door opened again. He sat very still praying whoever was in the room didn't bother to look inside this particular crate. He almost jumped out of his skin when a Sangheili in white armor crouched down in front of the container.

"Etae." Eric gasped, "You scared the crap out of me."

"I am sorry I startled you Eric." Replied Etae.

"Etae, are they going to send troops down to the planet?" Eric asked.

"How do you know about that?" Etae asked surprised.

"Um, I was sneaking around the maintenance access ways when I found the bridge. I watched the entire battle." Eric said.

"I see," Etae said, "No we are not sending troops to the planet, we have already jumped out of normal space once again. It would be advisable for you to not go exploring the ship any further on this voyage."

"I won't." Eric said.

"Oh, I have brought you some more water." Etae said handing Eric another jug. With that he turned and walked out of the room.

The next four days passed without incident. Eric took Etae's advice and did not leave the crate for the rest of the trip. On the fourth day Etae returned to the cargo bay.

"We have reached our destination and will be de-boarding very soon." Etae told Eric.

"How am I getting off the ship?" Eric asked.

"I am simply going to have this crate delivered to our new home. There is a catch however. To once again prevent you from being seen on the sensors as the crate exit's the ship I am going to have to give you another tranquilizer." Etae said holding up another one of the needle like devices.

"Here we go again." Eric said settling back into the crate.

Etae stuck the needle into his arm and as before he fell asleep instantly. With that Etae replaced the hatch on the crate making sure it had a good seal. Before he left he keyed a few commands on the holographic panel built into the said of the crate. This would give the Unggoy loading team the correct routing for this particular container. With that he simply strode out of the room.


	4. Unexpected Guests

Chapter 4: Unexpected Guests

Eida Ikoramee rolled over and opened her eyes. Time to start another day she thought as she sat up in her bed. She swung her hooves over the edge of the bed and onto the cold floor. The female Sangheili stood and stretched. She listened to her muscles pop as she did so. Eida walked over to a chest on the far side of the room and began pulling out her clothes for the day. She pulled on a pair of white pants and shrugged into a white long sleeved tunic. She tugged at the wide sleeves trying to keep them from falling over her hands. Eida pulled a long dark blue train over her belt and ran her hands over it to smooth it out. Finally she tightened a dark blue sash around her tunic and turned to look in the mirror. She took a deep sigh to prepare herself for the day and walked out into the cold corridor.

Eida's soft footsteps down the hallway were soon joined by a loud jangling noise.

"Rada, if we were in battle the enemy would hear you a hundred units away." Eida

said turning to the Sangheili that had just walked up beside her.

"But sister we are not in battle and we will probably never be." "Rada replied her

many bracelets rattling as she walked.

"It does not matter Eida, because they would hear you two bickering in another

system." Another Sangheili said walking up behind them.

"Yes, but they would see you first L'di." Eida said to the newcomer gesturing at

the many red scarves she wore.

"We must restock the medical supplies today." Eida said.

"By the rings, why must we do this every thirty cycles? We have not even had

\had any patients since we were stationed here." Rada complained.

"I know, but it is policy so it must be done." Eida reminded her friend.

* * *

Eida sighed as she put another roll of bandages onto a shelf. She turned and looked out the large polarized window to her left. All she saw was snow. She didn't like this assignment. How did I get stuck out here in this god forsaken place? She thought. She wondered what her father was doing right now. He was probably off conquering some far off human world.

She was lost in thought when she was suddenly interrupted by a series of loud thuds emanating from somewhere outside the base.

"By the gods what is that noise?" She said to herself. Eida looked out the window again but saw nothing.

Rada and L'di turned to look also. Without warning one of the blue armored guards stumbled into the room clutching his chest. "Humans" was all he was able to say before he fell over. Eida rushed over to the Sangheili and quickly looked him over. He was dead. She saw that he had several small holes in his chest, these, she knew from her teachings, were wounds inflicted by human weapons. Eida reached down and closed the fallen warrior's eyes.

"Sisters the armory!" Eida yelled standing up. All three Sangheili took off running out of the room and through the twisting corridors of the base. Why had the humans come here? She thought as she ran. They had just rounded another corner when Eida thought she heard something behind her. She was about to turn and look when something collided with the back of her skull and the world went black.

* * *

Eida had no idea where she was. She was lying on a very cold floor and she could hear snatches of a conversation from somewhere nearby. Yes sir all three of them are female … really? We've never encountered female elites before. … Yes bring this one upstairs I think it's time we talked.

Eida heard the scraping of metal, and then she passed out again. When she woke again she was being dragged down a long concrete corridor. The two humans who were pulling her along were engaged in a low conversation.

"Why now? Why does he have us do this at three in the morning?" One of the voices said.

"Hey who are we to argue with the general?" The other vice said.

She heard a large door opened and they pulled her inside. The two humans lifted her up and set her on a chair. She felt them secure her hands behind her with something, she felt someone roughly shaking her shoulder.

"Hey, time to wake up," A voice said sarcastically

She finally looked up shaking her head to clear the last of the sleep from her eyes.

She looked around the dim room. Two humans in green stood near the door and two more sat in the corner watching her. A human who appeared to be in charge was standing over to the other side of the room having a conversation with a blond haired human in a white coat, who was obviously female. The man noticed Eida looking at him and broke off his conversation with the other human.

"I am General Alexander Bristol and you are now a prisoner of the UNSC. I am going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them." The human said.

Eida gave a low snarl.

"I'll take that as a yes." General Bristol said. "Let's start with something easy. What is your name elite?"

"My name is Eida Ikoramee." She said.

"Well that's a start, "Bristol said. "Ok Eida, where is the elite homeworld?"

"I do not know I am neither a navigator nor am I a shipmaster." Eida said taking courage from the fact that she really didn't know.

"Hmm, ok what kind of weapons research were you doing?" The General Asked. "Weapons research?" Eida said in surprise. "I am a healer I was stationed at a medical outpost."

"Medical outpost?" Bristol said. "Wonderful, that's just wonderful, take her back to her cell, I have to go wake up someone from ONI and have an angry conversation."

Bristol turned and strutted out of the room. The two humans sitting in the corner stood and walked over to Eida. The helped her stand and led her out of the room. They guided her down the long hallway and stopped in front of an elevator. The elevator arrived and they boarded it. After what felt like hours the elevator came to a stop and the humans led her down yet another hallway until they came to a thick steel door. They pushed Eida inside and stepped in behind her. On one side of this room was a large detention cell, but unlike Covenant cells this one had iron bars in place of an energy shield. The two humans move her into the cell and removed whatever had been securing her hands. They backed out of the cell closing and locking the door. And then without a word they walked out of the room closing the heavy metal door behind them.

Eida looked around the room outside of the cell there were a few chairs and on the wall was a strange circular device with rotating arms and numerals. Inside the cell there was nothing more than a small bed a sink and toilet. Eida walked over to the bed and sat down on it she sat there alone thinking for many units.

Eida heard the door creak open and someone walk in. Eida looked up. It was the blond female human she had seen earlier. This human was smaller than the others she had seen only about five units tall and she wore a white coat. The human walked right up to the cell and looked at Eida. Eida stared right back.

"Hey." The human said in a cheerful voice.

Eida stood and walked over to the edge of the cell. She wrapped her hands around the cold steel bars and looked the human over.

"I can't imagine how you must feel right now, but I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?" The human said tentatively.

Eida let go of the bars and took a step back. She knew it; this was some sort of human trick.

"Not those kind of questions." The human said almost laughing. "I'm a healer like you, only in our culture I'm called a doctor."

"Doctor?" Eida said turning the word over in her head.

"I wanted to ask about you, about your physiology and anatomy." the doctor said.

"I do not see why not." Said Eida.

"Great," the doctor said standing up and sticking her hand through the bars. " Doctor Kelly Andrews."

Eida stood there for a moment and then shook the doctor's hand "Eida Ikoramee." She said.


	5. Questions and Answers

Chapter 5: Questions and Answers

Eida didn't like it here. It was cold, the human food wasn't very good, and the blanket she had was itchy. She picked around the tray of human food and stared at the same blank wall she had been staring at for the past two months. The only thing Eida truly enjoyed these days were Kelly's daily visits. Kelly had turned out to be a great friend and they had learned much from each other. Eida had gained a good understanding of human anatomy and it seemed like the doctor was starting to grasp Sangheili medicine.

The metal door at the end of the room opened and Doctor Andrews walked in looking as cheerful as ever. Since they had met Eida had never seen the human sad or even angry. She was in a perpetual good mood.

"Morning Eida." She said walking over to the cell.

"How are you doing this morning doctor?" Eida asked.

"I'm doing pretty well. I can't stay long today though. I finally managed to sneak into storage and steal Rada's bracelets back for her. I'm just about to go give them to her now." Kelly said holding up a bag that made a familiar rattling noise as she moved it.

"That is wonderful she will be glad to have them back." Eida said thinking about her friend.

"Oh, before I leave I just wanted to give you a heads up. I saw a few people from the Office of Naval Intelligence hanging around the base today. They may be coming to see you." Kelly whispered turning to go, "I'll see you later."

"May you have a good day doctor." Eida said as Kelly closed the door behind her.

Kelly's warning had been justified, not more than an hour later two marines opened the door and walked in.

"We got some people who want to talk to you." One of the marines said opening the cell.

They secured her hands with two metal rings and led her out the door. After a long walk and a short elevator ride they came to another room. The two guards led her inside and sat her down in a chair in the middle of the room. They left closing the door behind them.

The door opened again a moment later and a human in black fatigues walked in.

"Good morning you split faced SOB. The people upstairs want me to ask you a few questions." The human said. "But first a short history lesson. I used to have a family. Do you have a family elite?"

"Yes." Eida replied.

"That's good, having a family is nice." The human said quietly. "you know what happened to my family?"

Eida shook her head.

"We used to live on a planet called Madrigal." The human continued, "and then you glassed it!" The human practically yelled.

"Now where is the Covenant homeworld?" The human asked.

"I do not know." Eida said quietly.

"Wrong answer." The human said swinging his fist and punching Eida square in her mandibles.

Eida heard something crack and felt pain wash through her. Tears welled up in her eyes but she blinked them away.

"You're trying to tell me that you don't know where your home is?" The human laughed sarcastically, "You must know, where is it?"

"I do not know!" Eida yelled.

"I don't believe you!" The human yelled punching her again.

The marine continued to ask the same question over and over. But Eida just kept repeating that she didn't know. Eventually marine became enraged and stopped asking questions altogether. He just kept hitting her. Eida was openly crying now, her tears mixing with the purple blood that now ran from the many cuts that had opened on her head.

Suddenly the door behind the marine flew open and Doctor Andrews stood there. At that moment she looked like she would have taken on the entire Covenant fleet, and won. She stormed into the room and backhanded the marine across the face. He staggered for a moment and Kelly used the opportunity to deliver a powerful right hook to his jaw. The marine fell over on the floor.

"Sergeant, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Kelly roared.

"Interrogating the prisoner ma'am." He replied.

"Like hell you are." She yelled.

"Doc when Bristol finds out about this, he aint gonna be happy. I was under orders." The marine said.

"When you tell him what? That one of his oh-so-deadly ODSTs just got knocked on his ass by a girl." Kelly retorted, putting her hands on her hips.

"Guards take the prisoner back to its cell." The ODST growled.

The two marines standing outside the door started to walk into the room.

"Marines disregard that order." Kelly said with authority. "The Sergeant has kindly turned this into a medical situation, take her to the infirmary."

"Yes ma'am." The two marines said in unison. They walked over and helped Eida up and led her out of the room. Doctor Andrews followed.

"When they reached the infirmary Kelly ushered everyone inside and closed the door behind her.

"For the love of god take the cuffs off and go stand guard.

"Ma'am?" One of the marines asked quizzically.

"Marine, she isn't going anywhere so take the damn handcuffs off and go guard the door." Doctor Andrews said more forcefully this time.

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am." The marine said removing the handcuffs and walking out of the room.

"I do not like those." Eida said rubbing her wrists.

"No one likes handcuffs." Kelly said rummaging around in a cabinet. Finding what she was looking for Kelly turned and looked the Elite over.

"Oh, Eida that bastard really did a number on you." Kelly said in a low voice. "Sit down on the examination table."

Eida did as she was told and sat down on the low table.

"Come here." Kelly said gesturing for Eida to lower her head so that the doctor could get a better look. Eida did so and Kelly began to clean the many cuts on her face.

"Why did he do that?" Eida asked, "I did not kill his family."

"I know you didn't, but the Covenant did and to him you represent that Covenant. It's sad but that's the way people around here think." Kelly replied sounding a bit exasperated.

Kelly finished with the cuts and began checking the bones in Eida's face. She gently pressed on one of Eida's mandibles, eliciting a sharp cry of pain.

"Yep, he managed to break at least some of your mandibles. Is there anything I can do for them?" Kelly asked.

"No Kelly they shall have to heal on their own, I will just not be able to chew for a few days." Eida replied,

"Well, that's it, now as your Doctor I am ordering you to go back to your cell and get some rest. Not that the marines outside are going to give you much of a choice in the matter." Kelly said jokingly.

Eida stood and looked around the infirmary for a moment. The door opened and the marines re-entered the room.

"Now you two play nice." Kelly said to the two marines as they led Eida back out the door.

* * *

Eida wasn't able to eat anything for the next day and a half, and she was getting hungry. Early in the afternoon on the second day Doctor Andrews came by for her usual visit.

"I thought you were probably getting hungry so I brought you something." Kelly said rummaging through her bag and pulling out a metal can and opening the top.

"What is it?" Eida asked taking the can

"It's a drink that has all the nutrients of a regular meal, only you can drink it." Kelly said happily, "I thought it would be easier for you since you couldn't chew."

Eida took a drink from the can. It was pretty good she thought downing the drink in one go.

"Thank you I was getting quite hungry/" Eida said feeling better already.

"I've got something else here for you that I've been working on. Where did I put it?" Kelly said once again rummaging through her massive bag.

"Ah, here it is." She said pulling out a small data pad. "I know a tech guy upstairs that did me a favor. This data pad has the entire human medical database on it. I had my friend take the software that we use to translate your language into ours and reverse it. So all the information that appears on this tablet will be translated to that you can read it I thought you might enjoy something to read when I wasn't around."

Kelly handed Eida the tablet. Eida looked at the screen and sure enough all the information displayed was shown in the Covenant language.

"Thank you I shall enjoy reading this. Now where did we leave off our conversation last time?" Eida asked.

"I believe we were talking about the difference between human and Elite metabolic rates." Kelly said.

* * *

Another month slowly passed. Eida had been reading the tablet almost nonstop since Kelly had given it to her, and she was absorbing the information like a sponge. She had gained a thorough knowledge of human diseases and medical conditions that rivaled most human PhDs

Eida hadn't been feeling well the past few weeks. She was aching and getting horrible stomach cramps. Whenever Kelly came by Eida made a point to hide the fact that she felt so bad from her, until one morning when she felt so horrible she couldn't get off her bed.

She laid there curled under the blankets until she heard the distinctive sound of the door opening and the distinct sound of Kelly's footsteps.

"Hey Eida, I had a question that I wanted to ask you the other day and I just remembered it," Kelly said cheerfully as she walked into the room and stopped. "Eida what's wrong?" Kelly asked worriedly hurrying over to the cell.

"Guard get in here and unlock this door!" Kelly yelled.

"Ma'am?" The marine asked walking into the room.

"Don't ask questions just unlock the damn door." Kelly snapped.

The marine unlocked the door and Kelly rushed over to Eida.

"Eida tell me what's wrong?" Kelly said sounding really concerned.

"Feeling really bad do a blood test." Was all Eida was able to say.

"Right," Kelly said, "I'll be right back, hold on."

Kelly ran back out the door. She returned a few minutes later with a portable computer and a tray of medical supplies. By this time the pain had passed and Eida was sitting on the edge of the bed. Kelly walked back into the cell with the medical supplies and prepared to take a vial of blood.

"This is going to sting a bit." Kelly told her picking up a small needle.

"I know." Eida said quietly wincing as the doctor stuck the needle into her arm.

Kelly filled one vial with dark purple blood and inserted it into a slot on the computer.

"This computer is going to analyze the sample and see what's wrong." Kelly explained staring at the screen. They waited a few tense minutes until the computer had finished it's analysis. Kelly scanned the results looking for anything out of place.

"Ah ha!" said Kelly, "I know what the problem is. I have to go get something I'll be right back."

Kelly picked up the computer and jogged out into the hallway. Eida sat there wondering what the doctor had found. She ran through all of the things she thought it could be, but couldn't come to a conclusion. Doctor Andrews returned about ten minutes later holding two orange spheres. She tossed one to Eida who caught it in her hands.

"What is this?" Eida asked turning the bumpy sphere over in her hands.

"It's called an orange," Kelly replied, "It's a fruit that contains a large amount of a nutrient called vitamin C. All creatures need it to survive and we usually get it naturally in our diet, unfortunately the person who put your diet together failed to take your larger body mass into account and you haven't been getting enough of it."

"Do I need to peel it?" Eida asked.

"Yep." Kelly said digging her nails into the peel on the orange she was holding and ripping off a large piece. Eida did the same and within a few minutes the oranges were peeled and Eida tossed a piece into her mouth. The fruit tasted sweet and tangy, Eida liked it.

"As your doctor I am ordering you to eat one of these every day." Kelly said laughing.

"Ok," Eida said, "If you bring them to me, I'll eat them."

"Great I'll bring a few by everyday from now on." Kelly said happily.


	6. Moving

Chapter 6: Moving

The past month had passed quickly for Eida. She sat in her cell eating one of the oranges Kelly had brought her. She was starting to get a little bored in here. She had long ago finished reading the human medical database that Kelly had given her. She smiled thinking about how surprised Kelly had been that she had finished reading through all the information so quickly. Eida wasn't though. She had known for a long time that the gods had blessed her with a photographic memory, she always been able to remember everything that she read.

The metal door squeaked open and Kelly walked into the dark room. But, she wasn't her usual cheerful self Eida noticed. The doctor seemed kind of quiet and downcast.

"What is wrong Kelly?" Eida asked as Kelly walked over to her cell.

"Oh, it's nothing." Kelly said with a wave of her hand.

"Yes it is, it has to be something or else you would not look so down." Eida said.

"Ok," Kelly confessed, "I have a patient in the infirmary and I can't figure out what's wrong with him."

"Can I take a look at his symptoms?" Eida asked.

"Sure take a look." Kelly said handing Eida a tablet.

Eida looked over the information for a few minutes thinking back to what she had read in the database, and then it hit her.

"I think I know what this human has." Said Eida excitedly.

"You figured it out that fast?" Kelly said surprised.

"Yes, I believe he has ancient water borne pathogen called typhoid." Eida replied.

"Yeah, that's what it is." Kelly said taking the tablet, "and I know just where he got it to."

"Where would he get an ancient disease like typhoid?" Eida asked.

"This particular person happens to possess a two hundred year old bottle of gin that he is always bragging about, he must have finally opened it." Kelly said. "I have to go administer some drugs, I'll see you later." Kelly turned and hurried back out the door.

* * *

The Next day Eida was sitting in her cell contemplating what the humans were going to do with her. They were probably going to kill her. What other choice did they have? The Covenant would do the same if they caught a human.

The door opened and Eida looked up. Kelly walked in looking infinitely happier than she had yesterday.

"Hey Eida, the patient with typhoid is doing just fine, good call by the way." Kelly said.

"Thank you doctor." Eida replied.

"What if I told you I had another one for you?" Kelly inquired.

"I would ask you what the problem was." Eida said.

"Great, um actually I want to take you down to the infirmary to see the patient." Kelly said.

"Ok," Eida said leaping at the chance to finally leave this cell.

Kelly whistled and two marines came in.

"These two are going to be your friends today." Kelly said pointing a finger at the marines.

They opened the cell and escorted Eida out of the room. They led her through many twisting corridors until they finally reached the infirmary. This time the marines didn't ask questions they followed Eida into the room, but than just stood by the door. Kelly led Eida over to a bed where a human lay with a large puncture wound on his arm. The wound looked old, but it wasn't healing.

"May I take a look?" Eida asked.

"Of course." Kelly said in her professional voice.

Eida reached down and felt the area around the wound; suddenly the human pulled his arm away from her.

"Don't touch me!" The human practically yelled.

"Hey," Kelly said leaning over the marine, "She's a doctor and she knows more about this subject than me, so let her work."

The Human put his arm back down and allowed Eida to continue her work.

"This wound was caused by a defective needler round." Eida announced confidently a few minutes later.

"Defective?" The human said, "it sure looks to me like it worked."

"If this weapon had been working properly human, you would have lost your entire arm." Eida told him darkly. "In a rare occurrence needler rounds can fail to detonate. When they do they produce a certain type of radiation that will not allow new cell growth in the area around the needle."

Eida gently stuck her long fingers into the wound and probed for the needle. A moment later she pulled the slender purple shard from the human's arm.

"There." She said placing the needle on a medical tray.

Kelly proceeded to dress the wound and then turned to Eida.

"Thanks for the help." Kelly said sounding relieved.

"Anytime Kelly," Eida said, "By the way you may want to watch him for the human disease known as Boron's syndrome, the radiation that causes it is extremely similar to the radiation given off by the needle."

"I'll make sure to watch him for the next few weeks." Kelly said.

The marines came back into the room and took Eida back to her cell.

* * *

Another couple of days passed, Eida didn't know how many, she was still learning to read the human clock. She thought about the humans she had helped. It had felt good to help people again, even if they were human. Eida heard a strange crackling noise and a human voice emanated from a speaker hidden somewhere in the room.

"We are declaring a state of code BANDERSNATCH." the voice said. "All base personnel are to immediately enact protocol for UNSC code BANDERSNATCH immediately."

The speaker crackled again and the voice was gone. What was bandersnatch? Eida wondered. She gave a shrug and went back to her thoughts. Suddenly the door to the room flew open and banged against the wall. Two marines ran in. Eida jumped up and walked over to the edge of the cell.

"What is going on?" Eida asked.

"We have to go NOW." One of the marines told her, unlocking the door.

The two humans hurried into her cell and snapped two of those horrid metal rings onto her wrists and rushed her out of the room. They practically ran down the hallway. Eida looked around as they went and saw humans running in every direction carrying boxes, and crates. People ran in all directions as if in a hurry to escape. They came to an elevator, one of the marines franticly pushed buttons and the lift started up.

"What is going on?" Eida asked.

"Some of your friends found us." One of the marines said.

"Yeah and their getting ready to glass the planet." The other marine said.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Eida squinted as bright sunlight and hot air flooded the elevator. Eida opened her eyes and got her first look at the surface of the planet she had been living on for the past four months. It was a desert. All she could see were sand dunes rolling off into the distance and a bright sun beating down onto a concrete tarmac. Numerous small human ships sat on the tarmac with their engines running, while people tossed boxes, crates, and equipment into them. A steady stream of the oddly shaped craft were coming and going. Eida looked up to see where they were going and saw a massive human ship sitting in the lower atmosphere. Eida and her two escorts were running toward one of the small ships that Eida assumed must be some sort of drop ship similar to their phantom.

As Eida got closer to the ship she could see there were other people inside. It was Rada and L'di! Eida skidded to a halt at the back of the ship and looked at her friends.

"L'di Rada, I am so glad to see you!" Eida yelled over the roar of the engines as one of the marines helped her up into the ship.

"We are really happy to see you to sister." Rada said happily.

The marine helped Eida get settled into a seat and fastened a harness around her. She looked over at her two sisters. L'di looked as stern as ever, but Rada in contrast looked as happy and excited as she ever did. Her bracelets rattled as she turned in all directions looking at everything with wide eyes.

"Well I see you two have not changed." Eida said happily. Eida looked out the back of the ship and saw Kelly standing there as if she had appeared out of nowhere.

"Are you coming with us Kelly?" Eida asked/

"Of course," Kelly said throwing a large metal case into the back of the ship. "I can't leave you three alone, you'd get yourselves killed."

"It is so wonderful to see you again Kelly." Rada said happily.

"Always a pleasure doctor." L'di said professionally.

The back of the ship slid shut and the entire craft rocked slightly as it lifted into the air.

"What kind of ship is this?" Eida asked.

"It's called a pelican." the marine sitting across from her said.

"What kind of weapon is that?" Asked Eida suddenly full of questions.

"This?" The marine asked, "It's called a shotgun it fires a projectile called a shell." He pulled one of the red shells off his belt and showed it to her. "Inside this there are fifteen metal pellets and their propelled by an explosive called gunpowder."

Eida looked at the shell. "Interesting." She said.

"I can bring you an empty one the next time I'm at the firing range." The marine said.

The marine looked down at his watch "Hey if you look out the window in about five seconds you're going to see a really cool explosion." The marine said.

Eida turned her head and looked out the window. The base was now just a gray speck in a vast sea of rolling desert. Suddenly there was a blinding flash. A shockwave hit the pelican and it started to shake and rattle. A massive mushroom cloud billowed into the sky above the location where the base used to be.

"That was a five megaton HAVOC tactical nuclear weapon. All your friends are going to find when they get there is a glass crater." The marine said happily.

They flew passed the human vessel in low orbit, and continued out into space.

"Are we not going on that human vessel?" Eida asked.

"Nope, you three are such high value prisoners that you get the VIP treatment. We are heading to rendezvous with the UNSC's largest stealth ship the Point of No Return." The marine replied.

All Eida could see was black space, but then the human had said it was a _stealth_ ship.

As if out of nowhere the pelican slid into a large airlock and a massive set of doors slid closed behind them. There was a hiss as the airlock was pressurized and a second set of doors slid open. The pelican slowly flew into a massive hanger filled with other pelicans, longswords, and even an albatross heavy dropship. The pelican slowed and descended onto a landing platform. The rear of the pelican opened with a soft hiss and the marine sitting in front of her unhooked her harness and helped her up. They were met at the rear of the pelican by a group of six marines.

"Sir," One of the marines saluted, "The captain doesn't like the idea of giving three elites a guided tour of our most advanced stealth ship, so we gotta blindfold 'em."

Kelly turned to look at the marine who had been on the ship with them. He just shrugged.

"Sorry doc, but if the captain orders it I don't have any other choice." He said.

Without warning a black hood was pulled over Eida's head.

"Kelly?" Eida asked sounding scared.

"It's ok Eida I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." Kelly said.

"Ok let's go." A voice said and Eida felt someone grab her arm and start leading her away. They led her through a door and the sounds of the hanger were instantly silenced. She was escorted through a maze of hallways with many twists and turns. Eida had the feeling they were trying to confuse her on purpose.

A door opened and she was pushed through it. Someone pulled the hood off and Eida found herself standing in a room with a cell in it identical to the one she had left, except for the fact that instead of being made of concrete everything was made of steel. The marine locked the door and walked out of the room. Kelly poked her head around the door.

"I'll be back in a minute." She said and disappeared.

Eida looked around the room it was exactly the same as the one she had left, except now she could feel the subsonic thrum that told her she was onboard a ship. This fact was almost comforting. Suddenly the door opened again and Kelly walked in.

"Getting settled in?" Kelly asked jokingly.

"As much as I can." Eida replied.

"There's someone I want to introduce you to." Kelly said. A small holotank in the corner warmed and the hologram of a slender human female appeared. She was dressed in a tank top and jeans, but the most notable feature was that she wasn't wearing any shoes.

"This," Kelly said gesturing toward the hologram. " is Adria, she's our shipboard AI. Officially she's been instructed not to talk to you, but Adria has never been big on rules. Have you?" She asked looking at the AI.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The AI said in an innocent voice.

"Eida I probably won't be able to come by for the next few days. I have more appointments than I can count so I'm going to be busy. If you need anything, I'd try to get Adria to help you." Kelly said as she turned to go.

"I shall see you later then doctor." Eida said as Kelly walked out the door.

* * *

A day went by and just as she had said Kelly didn't come by. Eida just sat in silence thinking about where they might be going when the door opened. Eida stood up expecting Kelly to come in, but a tall man in a green uniform came in instead. He had graying hair and a stern look.

"I am Colonel James Richards of the Office of Navel Intelligence, and I want to ask you a few questions." The man said.

"Go ahead I will not answer them." Eida said defiantly.

"Oh, I think you will," Richards said keying a radio. "Bring them in."

The door opened and four marines dragged Rada and L'di into the room. L'di looked the same as she had before, but Rada's smile and cheerful demeanor had completely changed. She now looked really banged up. She had a black eye and a few drops of purple blood fell from her mouth, her once cheerful face had been replaced by a look of fear.

"What happened to it?" Richards asked one of the marines.

"It, um, fell down a flight of steps." The marine said.

"Of course," Richards said now turning to Eida, "You will answer my questions." Richards said.

"No I will not." Eida replied.

"Ok," Richards said withdrawing his M6D from it's holster, racking the slide and pointing the weapon at L'di.

"Now will you answer my questions?" The Colonel asked with a sneer.

"No." Eida said.

"Fine." Richards said. He lowered the pistol slightly and pulled the trigger. The twelve point seven millimeter round went straight through L'di's hip and sprayed blood on the wall behind her. She screamed the two marines dropped her on the floor, where she lay bleeding.

"You son of a Kig-yar!" Rada screamed, "Your world will burn!" She elbowed the marine on her left, breaking his nose and knocking out one of his teeth. Then she turned and drove her massive hoof into the groin of the other marine, who fell on the floor and blacked out from the pain. Rada then made a lunge for Richards intending to literally kill him with her hands tied behind her back. Luckily the other two marines in the room grabbed her just in the nick of time.

"Enough of this, Now are you going to answer my questions?" Richards asked pointing the gun at Rada.

"Yes." Eida whispered hanging her head.

"Good, let's start with something simple. How do your ships jump so accurately?

"I have told your people many times, I do not know such things. Only shipboard personnel and high ranking military officers have access to such information." Eida said.

"That makes sense," Richards said lowering the hand gun "are you going to be able to give me any useful information?"

"No, I am just a healer, so unless you are interested in medical information, there is nothing I can tell you." Eida said.

Suddenly Eida heard a voice from the other side of the door.

"Colonel Richards? I need to reschedule your prostate exam. Tomorrow's not going to work."

Eida knew that voice anywhere it was Kelly. The door opened and Doctor Andrews glanced around the room.

"What the HELL is going on in here?!" Kelly said loudly.

"I'm interrogating the prisoners doctor." Richards said casually.

"Did you shoot her?" Kelly asked hurrying over and kneeling by L'di.

"Yes, but it's not fatal." Richards said holstering his weapon.

"You stupid idiot." Kelly said.

"Doctor remember who you're talking to." Richards said quietly.

"Sorry sir, but this wound is fatal." Kelly said sounding worried.

"How?" Richards asked starting to sound genuinely concerned.

"You severed a main artery, she's bleeding out, and I don't have any elite blood to give her." Kelly said shaking her head.

"I need these prisoners alive doctor, is there anything you can do?" Richards asked actually sounding concerned.

"If I had some elite blood, or an elite with the same blood type I could do a blood transfusion, but I don't have either of those." Kelly said.

"Yes you do," Rada squeaked, "L'di and I have the same blood type."

"Perfect," Kelly said, "Adria."

"Yes doctor?" Adria asked.

"I need a gurney and a medical team down here now." Kelly said rapidly. Kelly turned and looked at Rada.

"What happened to her?" She asked Richards.

"Marine said she fell down a flight of stairs." The Colonel replied.

"Yeah, I bet she did," Kelly said sarcastically, "Adria make that two gurneys."

"Yes doctor." the AI replied.

The medical team arrived a few moments later. They lifted both Rada and L'di onto stretchers and carried them away. Doctor Andrews followed and Colonel Richards brought up the rear. The door closed and Eida was once again alone. At that moment all Eida wanted to do was kill the human who had hurt L'di, but she couldn't. The anger left her and was replaced by something else, a growing fear that settled into the pit of her stomach. The fear that L'di would die, the fear of this place, but even deeper the fear for herself and what would happen to her. She sat in silence for what felt like forever, in reality it had only been about thirty minutes when Eida remembered something.

"Adria?" Eida asked tentatively.

The holotank warmed and Adria's small figure appeared. "I'm not supposed to talk to you ya know." Adria told her.

"I know, but could you please tell me what is happening with my sisters?" Eida asked.

"I don't need to, Kelly is on her way down here as we speak, I'll let her tell you." Adria said smiling as her hologram vanished.

The door opened and Kelly strode over the threshold. She turned and slowly closed the door behind her. Doctor Andrews turned back and Saw the look of worry on Eida's face.

"Don't worry, they're going to be fine." Kelly burst out.

"Wonderful." Eida said feeling immensely relieved.

"L'di is going to have to stay in the infirmary for a while, but Rada is doing just fine." Kelly told her, "Those marines beat Rada up pretty bad, but she got her revenge."

"How is that Kelly?" Eida asked curious.

"Well, let's just say I hope Private Morell wasn't planning on having children." Kelly replied.

"Thanks, Kelly." Eida said.

"Don't mention it, oh, man I have to get back to the infirmary." Kelly exclaimed looking down at her watch, "there are some new nurses coming in for their shift in a few minute, boy are they in for a surprise."

Kelly waved to Eida, opened the door and quickly walked out.

* * *

A few hours later Adria popped in again. The hologram sat on top of the holotank with her legs crossed.

"Hello, Adria." Eida said delighted to have some company.

"Hello, Eida Ikoramee," Adria said. "yeah I've been reading the extensive file ONI has on you." Adria said in reply to Eida's surprised look.

"I thought you were not supposed to talk to me." Eida said to the AI.

"Yeah, but I want to screw with the Colonel, and I need your help." Adria said.

"What do you need me for?" Eida asked quizzically.

"I came up with a great way to mess with Richards, but I need your image." Adria told Eida.

"My image?" Eida said.

"Yes, right now I am scanning a 3D image of you into my database." Adria said, "hold on…done."

The image standing on the holotank disappeared, and a new one formed in it's place. It was a perfect image of Eida.

"Well, this feels odd." Adria said.

"You look just like me." Eida said

"Yes, my hologram is now an exact image of you, now if you'll excuse me I have a certain officer to harass." Adria said as her image dissolved into the holotank.

* * *

The last three days had passed without incident, but on this day Eida was woken

by the sound of two marines entering the room. Eida sat up and swung her feet over the edge of the

Small bed. As the marines unlocked the cell.

"Morning squid face, trips over we've arrived." One of the marines said.

They handcuffed and blindfolded her and lead her out of the room. The two marines guided

her through the maze of hallways. She heard the soft hiss of a door and suddenly her senses were assaulted by the sounds and smells of the hanger deck. She could hear people yelling back and forth to each other, and the distinctive whine of jet engines.

The blindfold was suddenly pulled off and Eida found herself standing behind one of the pelicans. One of the marines once again helped her into the back of the small ship and guided her into a seat. About five minutes later Rada showed up. She was looking much better than the last time Eida had seen her.

"Rada, you are looking better today." Eida told her friend.

"Thank you Eida, I feel much better." Rada said as the marine also helped her into the pelican.

After another few minutes Kelly arrived with L'di. She still looked pretty bad, and she needed Doctor Andrews help to walk. The two marines both helped L'di up into the ship and Kelly followed.

"Hello, Kelly." Eida said.

"Hi Eida, how are you doing today?" Kelly asked.

"I am doing just fine, how is L'di?" Eida said.

"She's getting there, right now I have her dosed up on painkillers though." Kelly said.

Eida looked over at L'di and noticed that she did seem a little out of it right now. The back of the pelican slid shut and the small craft lifted off the deck. Before Eida knew it they were traveling back out into space. There wasn't much to see on the trip down to the planet. Whatever planet this was, it looked similar to all the others Eida had seen before. The ship touched down on a wide spread of tarmac and the back opened allowing cool air to rush in. As Eida took her first step out of the pelican she stopped and took a deep breath of clean air. The base they were at was sitting on a rolling plain, and blue mountains rose off in the distance.

Kelly stepped up beside Eida and looked in the direction of the mountains.

"Welcome to Reach." She said to Eida.


	7. Spec Ops

Chapter 7: Spec Ops

Eric silently pulled himself up onto the roof of the building. Across the vast expanse of rooftops he could now see the house. Eric had been on Sanctum for six months now. After the first week of being cooped up in Etae and Ineda's new house Eric had decided to venture outside to see the city. It was on this excursion that Eric discovered that Sanctum had a large network of interconnected rooftops which allowed quick silent movement about the entire city. In the months after discovering this Eric had gone out almost every night and explored the city via rooftop. It was a beautiful, ancient sprawling city with a massive temple at one end. On tonight's trip that he was now returning from, he had ventured deep into the oldest part of the city around the temple. The buildings in that area were built of ancient stone, now covered in creeping vines. The nighttime view of the area had been stunning.

Eric crept slowly along the rooftops toward the house. He made sure to crouch low so as not to be spotted from the street below. Upon reaching the end of the row of buildings Eric descended a set of stone steps into the alley below. Staying in the shadows he crept down the alley toward the street. When he reached finally reached the street he looked around cautiously making sure no one was around. He hurried across the deserted street and opened the gate in front of the house just wide enough for him to squeeze through. The gate led into a large walled courtyard that lay in front of Ineda and Etae's home. The house was much larger than the one they had left behind. It was two stories tall and was built of white stone. In the middle of the courtyard there was a small fountain which added the sound of falling water to the already peaceful scene.

Eric sighed relaxing a bit more in the relative safety of the courtyard. He walked over to the house's ornate door and keyed a holographic icon. The door silently slid open. Eric walked into the dim light of the entryway. The entryway was almost identical to the one in the house on Sangheilios, if a bit bigger. He walked over to the house's grav lift, which was also larger than the old one. He stepped into the beam taking it to the second floor. Exiting the grav lift Eric was careful to tread quietly so as not to disturb Etae, who Eric knew was asleep. Ineda on the other hand was still at the medical center. She was apparently working a very long shift tonight. At the end of the second floor hallway was large holographic picture made of ever shifting geometric shapes. Eric touched one of the small shapes and a door behind the picture opened. Eric stepped over the threshold wondering for the hundredth time how they managed to have these rooms built into their houses.

Eric removed the armor plates from his suit and carefully arranged them on a small table in the corner. Finishing this task he fell into the bed. These late nights are going to kill me he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

The next day began the same way many had before. Etae, dressed in his ornate, white councilor's armor and was escorted to work by his honor guard. Ineda left shortly after for her work at the medical center. After they had left Eric ventured out into the walled area behind the house where he practiced a form of Sangheili hand-to-hand combat that Etae had been showing him. The area behind the house was heavily wooded and the sunlight filtering through the tree leaves made intricate patterns on the ground. Eric just stood for a second soaking in the peacefulness of the scene, and than he began to practice. He continued practicing for several hours losing track of time, and only realizing how long he'd been working when Etae walked out of the house. He walked over and stood in front of Eric.

"May I ask you a question Eric?" Etae asked.

"Sure." Eric said interested.

"On your nightly excursions you have learned the layout of the city quite well?" Etae queried.

"Yeah, I know the layout of Sanctum pretty well." Eric said a little puzzled by the question, "Why?"

"Some Heretics wondered if you would do something for them." Said Etae.

"What do they want me to do?" Eric asked eager to maybe finally be able to help.

"They have asked if you could perform the reconnaissance of a few key targets." Etae replied.

"Ok, but why me?" Eric asked.

"It is simple, you have become proficient at moving about the city by night, and most of these Sangheili, because of their status lack the ability to move freely about these locations without suspicion." Answered Etae, then added quickly, "And if you were caught they would think it the work of the humans and not the heretics".

"Alright," Eric said cautiously, "I'll do it. What are the targets?"

"Wonderful, we have two locations in mind. A supply depot and Sanctus." Etae said, "May I see your helmet?"

"Sure," Eric said handing over the helmet, "I understand the supply depot, but why the temple?"

"We need reconnaissance of the temple because it is a central gathering point for all of the military forces in the area." Etae said taking the helmet. He pulled a small silver cylinder about the size of a cigar tube from his belt and affixed it to the helmet.

"What's that?" Eric asked gesturing towards the helmet.

"This is a small recording device that will allow us to review everything you encounter during the reconnaissance." Etae replied handing the helmet back to Eric.

"Shall we go see what Ineda has prepared for the evening meal?" Etae asked.

"She's home already?" Eric asked.

"Yes her shift at the medical center did not last as long as usual." Etae replied. Both human and Sangheili turned and walked toward the house.

* * *

The night was clear with no moon. Eric slid to the edge of the roof on his stomach. Below him was the supply depot. The facility consisted of a large rectangular two story stone building, and its defenses were formidable Eric saw as he looked down at it. The building had four shade gun emplacements, one on each corner and the perimeter which was patrolled by several pairs of Kig-yar was devoid of any cover.

'This shouldn't be too hard.' Eric thought activating his active camouflage generator and standing up. The building he stood atop like many in the city had a set of stone steps leading from the roof to the ground. Eric stealthily made his way down the steps. Reaching the bottom of the steps Eric looked in either direction, making sure the Kig-yar were out of sight. This being done he quickly made his way across the open ground between himself and the building. Upon reaching the side of the building he saw the door that he was looking for. He crept over to it and studied the holographic symbols on the panel next to it. He punched in the code Etae had given him, the doors slid open with a slight hiss, and Eric stepped through.

Wow he thought as he stepped into the room. Eric had never seen so many Covenant weapons in one place. On his left there was a row of at least fifteen wraith tanks, and on the other side there were multiple rows of ghosts, too many to count. Eric walked deeper into the room, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls. Finally, the rows of vehicles gave way to stacks of crates; similar to the one Eric had hid in during the journey to Sanctum. He walked over to the first one, and being careful not to make any noise removed one of the side panels. Inside the crate was a rack holding about twenty plasma rifles. He replaced the cover and proceeded to open several more crates. They all held weapons or explosives of some sort. Satisfied that he had gathered all the information that was needed he headed back towards the door. He exited the building without any trouble and made his way back to the rooftops once again. Once on the rooftops Eric stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky. He could see millions of stars in the dark sky. He wondered if one them was Earth, or maybe even the planet that had once been Eridanus II. He banished the thoughts from his head and turned towards home.

The Journey back to the house took the better part of an hour. Entering the house, Eric was surprised to find Etae waiting for him in the small sitting room just off the entryway.

"Were there any problems?" Etae asked.

"No, everything went smoothly." Eric replied handing Etae the camera.

"The second location may be a bit more complicated." Etae said taking the camera.

"I think I'll be fine." Eric said walking over to the grav lift.

"I have faith in you." Said Etae following.

* * *

Eric carefully made his way across the rooftops of Sanctum coming ever closer to the temple. Tonight's recon was going to be a little tougher than the first. The temple and it's grounds were surrounded by a large outer wall, and it wasn't like Eric could just walk through the front gates. Eric's goal at the moment was to find a way over that wall. Eric moved silently through the dark night until he found such a way. A building had been built right alongside the wall with only a small gap in between. Eric didn't even have to jump. Eric crouched low on top of the wall looking over the temple grounds. Suddenly the clouds moved away and the moon illuminated the dark grounds and the massive temple looming in front of him. Eric moved along the wall until he found a large hanging vine that looked strong enough to support his weight. He slowly climbed down, a the bottom he activated his active camo. His body disappeared into the wall. Eric moved across the temple grounds making sure to stay in the shadow of the wall, so as not to be seen by any patrolling guards. Suddenly Eric heard a low thrumming noise. He flattened himself against the wall just as two phantom drop ships roared overhead. Both ships slowed and entered a hanger about ten stories up the temple wall. That hanger Eric knew, was what he needed to get a look at.

After walking for about ten minutes Eric thought he saw a small side entrance in the wall of the temple. After looking around to make sure there were no guards present, Eric ran across the vast expanse of open land toward the temple. Upon reaching the small door Eric looked for the familiar holographic icons to open it. Oddly there were none. Eric was just wondering how to open the door, when it opened by itself, shrugging Eric walked through. The door led into a small corridor that ended about ten meters ahead in another small door. This door also opened by itself and Eric stepped through into a massive stone hallway. The hallway was lined with large stone columns carved with pictures of Sangheili warriors fighting great battles that disappeared into the darkness overhead. Eric took a step, the sound echoed off the walls of the empty hallway. Eric froze, listening for any noise. Hearing none he continued on more carefully this time. He wandered the halls of the temple for half an hour looking for a staircase. Finally finding one he began the long climb to the floor where he believed the hanger to be. Upon reaching the landing of the tenth level Eric looked around the edge of the door, seeing no one in the hallway he cautiously walked on.

His guess had been right the entrance to the hanger was on this level. He peaked around the edge of the massive doors. The only people inside were a few Unggoy maintenance teams fixing ghosts. He stood just inside the door sweeping the helmet mounted camera over the entire hanger, being sure to catch everything there was. This included the two phantoms, six ghosts, and eight Banshees. Feeling he had all the footage he needed Eric carefully backed out the door into the hallway.

Getting out of the temple was proving to be the hard part. Eric had been wandering the corridors for at least two hours now. He had seen all manner of things. Massive statues of prophets, empty meeting halls, and even a gigantic library. He was just starting to get worried when he spotted the door he had come in. he hurried over to the door. It opened of its own accord and Eric stepped through. Once outside again Eric could see the sky had already started to brighten, and he knew he had to hurry if he was going to get back to Etae and Ineda's before the sun came up. Running along the wall he found the vine he had climbed down with. Grabbing hold of it he began to scale the ancient stone wall. Once he reached the top, he ran. Eric did not stop running until he had reached the relative safety of the courtyard.

Walking into the house he found Etae waiting for him once again.

"You were gone the whole night, I was beginning to get a little nervous." Etae said taking the camera from Eric once again.

"Yeah I got a little lost on the way out, but no one saw me." Eric said, "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to bed." With that he walked into the grav lift and disappeared.

* * *

Eric walked in a slow crouch along the dark rooftop. He was on his way back from another recon mission. The heretic group had been so pleased with his recon of the first supply depot and Sanctus that they had asked him to take a look at another supply depot. This depot as Eric had discovered upon entering contained a large stockpile of medical supplies. He had quickly taken footage of as much as possible and he was now on his way home.

He suddenly came to the edge of the building that he was standing atop and stopped. This particular building was not close enough to the next one to jump across, nor where there stairs leading down into the dark alley below. There was Eric noticed a stack of crates sitting against the building's wall. Eric shrugged seeing no other way. quietly lowered himself down over the edge of the roof onto the first crate. He jumped off the crate onto the ground below and began to walk down the alley. Eric heard a noise behind him and turned quickly to see what it was. Seeing nothing he turned the corner into another alley and froze.

"Oh shit." Eric said quietly to himself. In front of him stood a blue armored Sangheili warrior and His crimson armored commanding officer. Eric heard the noise behind him again and turned to look seeing another blue clad warrior.. Eric did the only thing he could do, he put his hands up in surrender.

The two minor Sangheili gave their commanding officer a look Eric could not read.

"Go ahead," The crimson armored Sangheili said, "But, do not kill him we will want to talk to this one."

Eric had a sudden sinking feeling as the two Blue clad Sangheili began to close in on him. The one in front of him picked him up by the front of his armor and looked him straight in the eye. He stood like that for a moment and then the warrior flung Eric into the alley wall. Eric heard something snap and he slid to the ground dazed. His head cleared enough just in time to feel the first massive booted hoof collide with his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He groaned as another hoof impacted his chest. Than Eric saw a third hoof coming at him from out of his peripheral vision, this one connected with his head and he blacked out.

* * *

Eric began to wake up slowly. What happened? Eric thought keeping his eyes shut against a pounding headache. He tried to bring his hand up to rub his head, but found that he couldn't. He suddenly remembered what had happened and opened his eyes with a start. He was sitting in one of the awkward Sangheili chairs in a room where everything was the exact same shade of blue. Eric felt oddly light, he looked down and saw that all the armor plates had been removed from his suit. This will not end well he thought to himself.

Without warning the doors at the opposite end of the room opened and a black armored Sangheili walked in followed by two red armored majors.

'Black armor, black armor,' Eric thought, 'what does black armor mean? Oh crap, spec ops commando, this was going to be painful.'

The two majors took up positions on either side of the door. The commando walked over to the chair where Eric was seated and stared down at him. The warrior removed the plasma rifle from his belt and looked it over for a moment as if considering something. Then with a quick swiping motion the Sangheili hit Eric in the side of the head with the rifle.

"Ahhh, what was that for? You didn't even ask me any questions!" Said Eric feeling warm blood ooze down the side of his head.

"Since when do I have to ask a vermin a question to hurt it?" The warrior asked, "Now where is the human planet Earth?"

"I don't know." Eric said defiantly. This time the Sangheili brought the rifle down on the other side of his head. Pain lanced through Eric's skull and he felt more blood.

"Once again, where is your homeworld?" The warrior yelled.

"Why should I tell you? You're just going to kill me anyway." Eric said.

"Yes we are," the commando said bringing his face within inches of Eric's, "The question you must ask yourself human is whether you want a quick death or a very, very slow one."

"I have a group of Kig-yar who would love to get their hands on him." One of the majors in the corner added.

"I would not wish that death on an Unggoy." The other major said.

"Now where is your homeworld?" The black armored Sangheili asked putting the plasma rifle/

"I forget." Said Eric. The elite pulled curled his left hand into a fist and putting a great deal of strength into the blow punched Eric in the chest. Now pain shot through him as he felt ribs crack and break.

"Well than let us try something else, where did you come by this armor?" The Sangheili asked.

"I stole it from your dad." Eric replied defiantly. The Sangheili enraged by this unsheathed a deadly looking combat knife. The warrior roared and quickly swiped the blade across the left side of Eric's face. Eric felt warm blood running down the side of his face and hot fiery pain lanced through him.

The doors at the end of the room opened once again and two Sangheili in ornate white armor walked into the room. The two majors standing by the door stood a little straighter. Eric didn't know who one of them was, but he could tell that he other was Etae. This gave him a bit of hope right up to the point that Etae walked over to Eric and pulled back his fist, and punched him square in the face. Eric felt more bone snap and he tasted iron.

"Have you gotten anything out of him yet?" Etae asked looking at the black armored warrior.

"No sir this one is quite strong." He replied re-sheathing the combat knife.

"Well maybe we should try something stronger then." Etae suggested.

At that moment all the lights in the room went out.

"What is going on?" One Sangheili asked.

"He is trying to escape." Another voice said. A small fight broke out somewhere in the dark and the chair Eric was sitting in was tipped over. He fell off the back and hit the wall, which sent a fresh wave of pain through his body. Suddenly the lights came back on and four of the five Sangheili were lying on the floor unconscious. Etae walked over to the wall where Eric had fallen. He reached down and pulled him up off the floor. At the same time whatever had been holding his hands fell away.

"I am sorry I had to hit you." Etae said.

"That's ok." Eric replied feeling his face his fingers coming away sticky with blood.

"You need to hit me." Etae said.

"What?" Eric asked confused.

"You need to knock me unconscious so that they do not become suspicious." Etae replied. Handing a plasma rifle to Eric.

"Ok." Eric said nervously.

"Your armor is in a room down the hall, it would be best if you retrieved it." Etae said kneeling down a little bit so that Eric could actually reach high enough to hit him in the head.

"Sorry about this Etae." Eric said swinging the rifle and bringing it down on the top of Etae's skull. Etae fell to the ground unconscious. Eric turned and looked at the spec ops commando. In one last show of defiance Eric reached down and removed the unlit plasma sword from the commando's belt and hurried out the door.

The hallway he stepped into was made of smooth stone, and supported by massive columns covered in carvings of Sangheili warriors.

'Why did they bring me here?' Eric thought, 'this is the temple not a military base. Actually it made sense Etae had said that the temple was the largest concentration of military personnel in the area.' Eric didn't think about it any longer and ran down the hall. He turned to the first door that he came to and it slid open.

Eric stopped, inside was a small group of aliens Eric had never seen before. They had multiple sets of eyes and floated a few feet above the floor. They didn't seem to pay any attention to him however and Eric turned his attention to what they were examining. It was the pieces of his armor. He rushed into the room and began reattaching the armor plates to his body suit. He was about to attach the backpack, but he couldn't find it. Suddenly Eric felt something fall into place on his back. He turned his head and saw that one of the aliens had attached his backpack for him. Eric picked up his helmet, attached the stolen plasma sword to his belt and hurried out of the room.

Once out of the room Eric stopped for a second thinking about what to do next. First he activated his active camo and then began cautiously making his way down the hall looking for a way out. Eric was so intent on finding a way out of the temple that he almost ran into a group of young Sangheili females. He immediately flattened himself against the wall and held his breath. The small group stopped for a second looked around and then continued down the hallway. Eric let out a long sigh of relief.

'That was close." He thought.

Eric finally spotted the door that he had used to enter the temple on his recon mission several days ago. The doors opened and he raced for the exit. When the outer door opened bright sunshine poured in. The sun was high in the sky and he could hear birds chirping in the trees.

'The wall, I have to get over the wall.' Eric thought. He spotted the large vine he had climbed on his previous visit and, looking around carefully to make sure no one was around he ran to it. Eric grabbed hold of the vine and began to pull himself up the wall. Pain lanced through him as he moved but he kept going. Reaching the top of the wall Eric looked around for a moment. Then he ran. Eric could feel the armor responding to his injuries pumping more adrenaline into his system to keep him going, just a little longer. He ran across the rooftops of Sanctum as fast as he could, adrenaline pounding in his ears. He could see the house! He reached the stairs that led down into the alley across from the house. He was moving so fast he almost fell down the steps. Not even stopping to check the street he across to the courtyard wall. Using most of his remaining strength he pushed the gate open and ran inside. He crossed the courtyard to the house and keyed the door open. He stumbled across the threshold into the house. The adrenaline suddenly gone, the pain returned in full force and Eric collapsed on the floor. Hearing someone come in Ineda came rushing into the room.

"Oh, dear I'll get the painkiller." She said seeing Eric on the floor.

* * *

Eric slowly came back to consciousness. The first thing he felt was the pain. Eric groaned and felt a large four fingered hand on his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes to see Etae and Ineda standing over him.

"We have got to stop meeting this way." Eric said groggily.

"They did quite a number on you." Ineda said looking up from a tablet, "You have several broken ribs, two fractures in your skull, multiple lacerations, two fractured vertebra, and a broken jaw" At this she turned to look at Etae.

"I had no choice." Etae said.

Eric turned to look at Etae and noticed that he was holding a small purple sphere to his skull.

"What's that for?" Eric asked motioning toward the small sphere.

"You hit quite hard Eric." Etae replied removing the sphere to show a large lump on the top off his head.

Eric moved as if to stand up and found himself being pushed back down to the bed.

"Do not move," Ineda said in a harsh professional voice, "With your injuries you will not be going anywhere for several cycles. And if you try to move I may just have to give you more of that tranquilizer I have."

At that Eric stopped moving and laid still.

"That's better," Ineda said shaking the tablet at him, "I was able to set your broken ribs and vertebra. I sealed the lacerations on your head, but as before I believe that only time will heal the fractures in your skull."

Ineda gave Eric a serious look, "You are very lucky that our armor is able to temporarily compensate for the loss of nerve function in the spinal column, or else you would not be here today."

"How were you able to fix my spine?" Eric asked.

"A tried and true method of gravitational manipulation." She explained.

"Etae," Eric asked, "were you able to get the recording device?"

"Yes, I was able to retrieve it and get the data to the Heretic movement." Etae said.

"How were you able to explain my escape?" Eric asked Etae.

"A freak power failure allowed you to escape. You than stole a banshee and flew out over the forest. But, being a lowly human you did not know how to properly control the banshee and you overloaded the power core. All they found was a large crater and a few scraps of blackened metal." Replied Etae.

"So the Covenant thinks that I'm dead." Eric said.

"Would you like to take a look at the news bulletin?" Ineda asked, "It was a very big deal, the Covenant finding a human on Sanctum. I would not be surprised if everyone at the medical center was talking about it today."

"Sure, I'd love to see the mess I created for the Covenant." Eric said. Ineda handed him the tablet she had been holding. Eric looked it over quickly scrolling through all the information and then handed it back.

"We should leave now so that you can rest, but I am going to leave this tablet here," She said setting the tablet on the small table near the bed. Ineda walked quickly out of the room. Etae was about to walk out the door when Eric suddenly remembered something.

"Etae I brought you another sword for your armory." Eric said gesturing toward the table that his armor sat atop.

"Eric according to Sangheili culture since you captured the weapon it is now yours." Etae replied.

"But, I can't even light an energy sword." Eric protested.

"Not yet you cannot, but maybe someday you will." Etae said and walked out the door.

* * *

Four weeks passed. Ineda and Etae dropped in regularly to see how he was doing bringing news, and more painkillers. At the end of the fourth week Etae came into the room looking to be in a bad mood.

"I come with bad news." Etae said walking over to the bed.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked sensing that something was very wrong.

"Your fortress world "Reach" has fallen." He replied.


End file.
